Among Others by Jo Walton

Jo Walton's Nebula award winning and Hugo nominated novel Among Others is not the sort of book I would generally read. It came to my attention because it was nominated for the Hugo and as someone who is eligible to vote for the award I thought I should read all the nominated novels.

It's a very personal story and it's hard to classify. The inclusion of the fairies and the magic makes it fantasy, but their existence is rather ambiguous and the reader is left at the end of the book wondering if in fact they do exist or they were something that the story's protagonist; Morwenna Phelps, came up with as some sort of coping mechanism in order to deal with the loss of her twin sister, her mother's descent into insanity and the rather joyless existence she has at her strict and anachronistic boarding school.

Among Others is extraordinary for a fantasy novel, it doesn't concern any great quest or really have a conventional plot, there are no heroes or heroines as such. The book is presented as Mor's diary written  between September 1979 and February 1980 (with the exception of the prologue which is set in May 1975).

Mor is a precocious, bookish girl, she's highly intelligent and reads voraciously, almost exclusively science fiction and fantasy. During the period the diary covers Mor tries to deal with the loss of her twin sister Morganna, an injury which leaves her lame in one leg and the life at her school, which she hates. Most of the students don't much like her and those that she is close with she really only tolerates because they're outsiders like her.

Aside from the fairies, which only Mor can see, and the magic that only Mor knows how to perform, she escapes into books, largely classic science fiction and fantasy. I saw a lot of myself in Mor, which may be why I connected so much with Among Others. I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy at her age. It was weird enough for me to read unassigned work for pleasure, but to compound it by reading SFF, well that just made me into an oddball. Even my parents; keen readers themselves, always referred to SFF as 'that stuff you read.' Mor's in a very similar situation, although her estranged father, with whom she is trying to build a relationship, is also a fan and understand's his daughter's interest.

When the town library tells Mor that they have a Tuesday night book club, and that they discuss SF work, the girl's life changes and for the better.

Among Others is a love letter to classic SF and to the libraries and librarians that stock it and recommend it to people. It is a book written by a reader for readers. I hadn't read a lot of the books that Mor had and talked about in rapturous tones, but I understood where she was coming from and her love of reading and books.

This is one for the fans and I encourage anyone who likes reading, and especially SFF fans, to read this and fall in love with it as I did.

Questions & Answers

This meme (whatever a meme is) was initially posted at: http://wisb.blogspot.com/2010/05/book-habits-meme-reboot.html with an invite to answer it on your own blog. I thought I'd do just that.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack:

I hardly ever eat while reading. I just can’t do the whole dip into bowl, navigate snack to mouth thing and still concentrate on the book. My manual dexterity is and always has been shocking. So the answer is no.

What is your favorite drink while reading?

Very rarely drink while reading. If I get thirsty, I’ll put the book down and go to the kitchen to get something to drink. On the rare occasions this does happen it’ll probably be Coke.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Horrifies me, always has. Never ever do it.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

I have 2 bookmarks, one is a soft woven, Persian rug type thing and the other is a cross stitch that my wife made for me. I usually mark my place with them. Very occasionally if I know I’m not going to be away for long I will lay it flat open. Dog earing the pages is a huge no no for me. I haven’t done that since I was about 8 years old.

Fiction, nonfiction, or both?

Mostly fiction. I do sometimes read non fiction if the subject interests me. The last non fiction was The Age of Wonder.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?



My wife laughs at me about this. I HAVE to read to the end of a chapter or a section. Terry Pratchett annoys me because he doesn’t usually have chapters in his books.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?



I joke about throwing books across the room if I don’t like them, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually done it. I rarely don’t finish a book, but if I really can’t go on I close the book, put it in another room and generally leave it there to rot.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?



No, but I do try and remember it so I can check it on the computer.

What are you currently reading?

Jorge Luis Borges: The Book of Sand. Truth be told I don’t really like it much and can’t work out why he’s so respected.

What is the last book you bought?

Monster by A. Lee Martinez. I went on a real book buying spree for a while and I’m trying cut back so I can at least make some inroads into the ever growing TBR pile.

Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?



My wife can read more than one at a time, she has had as many as 5 on the go at the one time. I’m strictly a one at a time person, unless you count graphic novels. With those I’m usually reading the graphic novel at home and keeping the book for the commute.

Do you have a favorite time/place to read?

I don’t have a specific time or place, but I do most of my reading on the train to and from work. I also try to read a chapter in bed at night before turning off the light.

Do you prefer series books or stand alones?



Both. It depends on the book. Stand alones don’t require you to wait in between books, but if the series is good enough and the wait isn’t too long I can do it, although A Song of Ice and Fire has turned me off buying the first book of a number of new series until at least the 2nd book is out.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?



It changes, but 3 things that stay up there are: Dave Duncan’s A Man of His Word series, Tad Williams The War of the Flowers and Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastards series.

How do you organize your books? (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)



When we get the time we try to put them on the shelves in our library alphabetically by author. Makes them much easier to find that way.