The Story of King Arthur and His Knights - Howard Pyle

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Pyle, 1903)

Pyle retells classic Arthurian legends while adding some tales of his own. The Story of King Arthur covers the fabled beginnings:  the sword in the stone, the getting of Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, the wooing of Guinevere, and the establishment of the Round Table.

Again, Pyle's prose is enchanting. Using the same semi-olde style from Robin Hood, he mixes an almost liturgical descriptive style ("and the two knights came together, and the sound of their horses was like thunder, then they burst their spears upon their shields") with poetic, enchanting descriptions of scenery and landscapes. Grand pageantry and pastoral idylls mix freely with knightly combat and mystical magic.

Most of the episodes include a somewhat didactic ending, deriving the moral of the story for young readers, but these morals are typically spot-on, and they add charm to the story. There is plenty of action, intigue, and danger, and the characters are nuanced with real faults and foibles. The "noble" Arthur going incognito as a gardener's boy proves a worthless and insubordinate employee, and his "noble" knights treat him like a nobody before they realize who he is. Sir Gawaine begrudgingly agrees to wed an old woman who saved Arthur's life, and Sir Pellias lets himself be captured repeatedly by lesser knights hoping to catch a glimpse of their lady, his love. The stories are instantly engrossing and eminently entertaining.

Pyle would go on to write three other Arthur books, which I will keep on my radar. Such enjoyable reading is hard to come by.

Arbitrary rating:  4 out of 5 fabled beginnings

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Pyle, 1883)

In this classic collection, American author and illustrator Howard Pyle brings the old English folk tales and ballads of Robin Hood to life, collecting them together in a semi-unified narrative that offers blissful escape, adventure, and humor.

Perhaps the ultimate bromance, Pyle's Robin Hood is filled with brawlers who turn into buddies, merry pranks, light-hearted outlawry, and other archetypal male bonding scenarios.  Poor Maid Marian gets two mentions in passing as Robin briefly calls her to mind before moving on to some new adventure. This version is all about brotherhood, excellence in combative sport, and Robin's peculiar sense of justice. Rich, stingy fellows like the Sherrif of Nottingham and the Bishop of Hereford each have their turn footing the bill for a dinner party in Sherwood Forest, which, aside from the part where their money is removed from them, they can't help but enjoy, being in such merry company.

Though Pyle is mostly remembered today as an artist and illustrator, and indeed his black-and-white faux-medieval illustrations for Robin Hood are classics in and of themselves, his skill as a prose writer and storyteller should not be overlooked. Pyle weaves intriguing and entertaining tales with enviable ease and grace, drawing you in to the landscape and characters as naturally as a brook running through the forest.

And of course, the stories are classics:  Robin winning the Sherrif's archery tournament in disguise, Friar Tuck and Robin forcing each to give the other a piggy-back ride across a river, Little John busting the head of the Sherrif's lackey who refuses to open the kitchen for him, and diverse daring rescues of compatriots from pending execution or near incarceration. As Pyle says in his preface: "You who so plod amid serious things that you feel it shame to give yourself up even for a few short moments to mirth and joyousness in the land of Fancy; you who think that life hath nought to do with innocent laughter that can harm no one; these pages are not for you."

Arbitrary rating: 4 out of 5 brawlers turned buddies

Puck of Pook's Hill - Rudyard Kipling

Puck of Pook's Hill (Kipling, 1906)

It has been a long time since I've read Kipling, and I wasn't sure what to expect from this lesser-known children's book, but I was delighted to find a masterful collection of subtly intertwined stories mixing history, fantasy, and realistic intrigue.

The framing story involves two kids acting out Midsummer Night's Dream in their yard, which happens to be a fairy circle. Puck himself materializes and promises to tell them stories of old England, either from his own mouth or from the mouths of real people from history. They meet a noble Norman knight who came over with William the Conqueror and embraces Saxon life; a Roman centurion guarding Hadrian's Wall against the Picts and Vikings; a Renaissance architect who uncovers smugglers in his hometown; and a money-lending Jew (aren't they all? sheesh) whose wise dealing leads to the signing of the Magna Carta. Each chapter is bookended by poems relating to the story or theme.

I had forgotten how simply yet powerfully Kipling writes. Nary a wasted word in the evocative prose, while the poetry almost created its accompanying music on its own. When I was young, I read The Jungle Books, Captains Courageous, and various short stories and poems for content only - I think I need to go back and reread them to soak in the splendid writing technique. I guess Rudyard didn't win the Nobel Prize for nothing.

The only weakness (other than the anti-Semitic stereotype, though to be fair, the story displays the opposite of an anti-Semitic sentiment) is the framing story.  The kids are fairly faceless and don't do much besides listen, but we get glimmers of childish enthusiasm here and there. The stories are also geared heavily toward British children as a celebration of their history, but they are so well told, any nationality of child (or adult) could enjoy them.

Arbitrary rating: 4 out of 5 enchanted fairy circles

American Notes - Charles Dickens

American Notes: For General Circulation (Dickens, 1842)

After regaling myself with Martin Chuzzlewit, I figured it would be as good a time as any to read my first Dickens non-fiction, seeing as it immediately preceded Martin and touches a similar subject: those wild, rebellious colonials.

While certainly no sweeping national analysis a la De Tocqueville, Dickens's American Notes capture several enlightening and informational snapshots of what America was in the 1840s, from Boston to St. Louis, from partisan politics to deviations from the good Queen's English.

Dickens's interest in social reform and justice probably made him a boring travel companion. While his wife Catherine perhaps wanted to hit the beach, Dickens was excited to see prisons, workhouses, orphanages, reform schools, and institutes for the blind, deaf, and dumb. Indeed, that's about all we get of New England - how their prisons work, what good and bad there is in their design, how they are trying to educate and employ the poor, and so on. Some vignettes are moving and uplifting (the education of Laura Bridgman), others are terrifying (the solitary confinement prisons in New York and Pennsylvania, the list of personal advertisements describing the physical injuries of runaway slaves).

Of course, Dickens the humorist gets in a few good laughs, starting with his mock praise of the "spacious" steamliner accommodations on the trip over. The trials of travelling provide plenty of opportunities to make comic lemonade, while reminding me how awesome cars and airplanes are. The widespread habit of chewing tobacco also evokes Dickens's comic ire - no matter where he goes, he is bespattered with inadvertent spittle. Those uncouth Americans!

Arbitrary rating: 4 out of 5 wild, rebellious colonials

Bringing Up Girls - James Dobson

Bringing Up Girls (Dobson, 2010)

I'm not much of a self-help reader (or a non-fiction reader in general, as can be seen by my published track record), but I figured I'd better read this one!  Though I'll probably need to reread it later, when it will be more applicable... Dobson covers a wide array of topics, from the unique physiology and temperament inclinations of the fairer sex in childhood to the minefield awaiting them in young adulthood.

Where this book is strongest, in my opinion, is in its impassioned call to parents to educate and support daughters as they try to find their way in an increasingly anti-female world. Girls and women are still continually exploited for their perceived beauty or lack thereof, and however "progressive" we might think we are, our society sets up girls for a lifetime of self-doubt, self-loathing, and empty cheats against any cherished hopes of true love and appreciation.

There are also some great snippets of information about the physiological and emotional differences between boys and girls that should not be ignored. I had no idea a baby girl goes through an early puberty-like event that helps develop her brain, or that baby boys' brains get blitzed by testosterone early on (yes, we crazy boys are officially suffering from brain damage). I'm excited to see the similarities and differences between my kids as they grow.

The weakest aspect of the book was its organization, or lack thereof.  Anecdotes, citations, and asides abound. In one chapter directed to moms, there are several pages directed at dads (who get their own chapter later).  Another chapter is simply a newspaper story, cited in full, that doesn't really relate to the previous or following chapters.  Many of the anecdotes (especially the ones near the ends of chapters) are targeted maliciously at heartstrings. C'est la vie.  The main thing I learned is that I need to stay involved in my little girl's life - and though she's only five days old and I have a long way to go, I don't see any danger of dropping that ball.

Arbitrary rating: 4 out of 5 heartstring-tugging anecdotes

Martin Chuzzlewit - Charles Dickens

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (Dickens, 1843-44)

I should make this disclaimer: I find Dickens an absolute pleasure to read. Rather than infuriating me, his effulgent, flowery, witty prose provides pleasurable tingly sensations in my brain. While it is true that no one could or should write in this style today, I would maintain it is merely because Dickens did it so perfectly, anything else would be a base imitation.

In Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens portrays selfishness on a grand scale. Rich miser Martin Chuzzlewit is continually hounded by his mercenary relations, particularly the hypocritical honey-tongued Seth Pecksniff. He hopes to bestow his fortune on his grandson, young Martin, whom he has raised from youth. But when young Martin displays a similar attitude of selfishness and entitlement, old Martin expels him upon the world.

The comic aspects of this novel are top-notch. The tortuous, self-serving rationalizations of Pecksniff, a disinterested saint if ever there was one, provide plenty of laughs while driving the plot. When the extended Chuzzlewit relations get together, Dickens lampoons their dysfunction with great levity and precision. Young Martin's naive confidence in his ability to make it in the world also provides several comic moments, especially when he sets out for America, fully expecting to make a fortune in a few months and return triumphant. In the minor character realm, the urchin Bailey is a hoot as he sits his childish face in the barber's chair and waxes eloquent on manly topics while the barber "shaves" him. Dickens the comic master is at the top of his game here.

Of course, this generous novel is not merely comic. Pathos, tragedy, greed, suspicion, selfless love, and sordid crime have their fair share of narrative space. Pride, idiocy, and deviousness on both sides of the Atlantic receive plenty of satirical skewering. While many elements of this book link it to Dickens' earlier novels, he really begins to slow down and let his characters breathe in this one.  In Martin Chuzzlewit we see the growth of the popular storyteller into the truly great novelist who expertly plumbs the depths of human nature.

The only truly bizarre aspect of this book is its ending.  After so much admirable pacing and character development, it is as if Dickens realizes he owes the readers a melodramatic plot twist and a swift cataloguing of resolutions for all characters, major or minor, in the most unnatural of ways. At one point, characters who have never really interacted with each other get together at a place they have never been before and make their revelatory disclosures. Thankfully, this rushed ending doesn't ruin what has gone on before, and it might have taught Dickens that sometimes, the formula must be ditched.

Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 self-serving rationalizations

The Theory of Everything - Ayreon

The Theory of Everything (Ayreon, 2013)

Disc 1
Phase I: Singularity
1. Prologue: The Blackboard - 1:56
2. The Theory of Everything, Part 1 - 3:02
3. Patterns - 1:04
4. The Prodigy's World - 1:31
5. The Teacher's Discovery - 2:59
6. Love and Envy - 2:40
7. Progressive Waves - 3:17
8. The Gift - 2:38
9. The Eleventh Dimension - 1:46
10. Inertia - 0:45
11. The Theory of Everything, Part 2 - 1:51

Phase II: Symmetry
12. The Consultation - 3:49
13. Diagnosis - 2:49
14. The Argument 1 - 0:25
15. The Rival's Dilemma - 2:22
16. Surface Tension - 0:57
17. A Reason to Live - 0:46
18. Potential - 3:15
19. Quantum Chaos - 2:10
20. Dark Medicine - 1:24
21. Alive! - 2:29
22. The Prediction - 1:05

Disc 2
Phase III: Entanglement
1. Fluctuations - 1:01
2. Transformation - 3:14
3. Collision - 3:27
4. Side Effects - 2:59
5. Frequency Modulation - 1:44
6. Magnetism - 3:54
7. Quid Pro Quo - 3:09
8. String Theory - 1:29
9. Fortune? - 1:37

Phase IV: Unification
10. Mirror of Dreams - 2:31
11. The Lighthouse - 3:16
12. The Argument 2 - 0:49
13. The Parting - 3:27
14. The Visitation - 3:27
15. The Breakthrough - 2:00
16. The Note - 1:12
17. The Uncertainty Principle - 2:10
18. Dark Energy - 0:45
19. The Theory of Everything, Part 3 - 1:29
20. The Blackboard (Reprise) - 1:14

After you've read all the titles, this album practically reviews itself! With The Theory of Everything, Dutch multi-instrumentalist and composer Arjen Anthony Lucassen delivers another sprawling rock opera rooted in progressive rock, folk, and symphonic metal.  Reigning in previous albums' sci-fi flights of fancy, Lucassen weaves a tale about an autistic savant and his ambitious physicist father.

Equal parts Good Will Hunting, Rain Man, Flowers For Algernon, A Beautiful Mind, the crime plot of Office Space, and the dust jacket of A Brief History of Time, the narrative here is very involved, and, while it does deliver some satisfying twists, it is a lot to take in. Events happen in rapid succession, with not much time for in-depth development. The liner notes provide extra information to give the songs context and a timeline, but that's an awful lot of reading... Thankfully, the story communicates itself well (without Cliff's Notes) due to the presence of strong vocalists. Each sings the part of one character, so just a couple of listens are needed before the story takes shape.

Musically, the concept was to compose four lengthy movements or acts, divided into a total of 42 sections (shout out to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). However, rather than breaking things down into accessible chunks, the profusion of tracks actually clouds the musical structure for me. The themes and melodies don't get much time to coalesce before we're on to another song. The emphasis is on Broadway/opera-style musical storytelling, so Lucassen's music is suitably diverse and changeable. I didn't really come to appreciate the quality of the music until I put down the track list and just listened.

Just listening is my recommendation here. Lucassen's typically high-quality instrumental performance, arrangement, and production is on full display. His rich analog synths, tasteful piano, growling bass, and intricate electro-acoustic guitar guide the listener on a multifaceted musical journey. Guest soloists include a triumvirate of prog keyboardists: Keith Emerson (ELP), Rick Wakeman (Yes), and Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater). Steve Hackett of Genesis contributes an excellent guitar solo as well. And the aforementioned vocalists - too many to list - make the story come alive in a unique way. While this doesn't have the emotional impact of Lucassen's previous album The Human Equation (one of three concept albums that have made me cry, along with Dream Theater's Scenes From a Memory and The Decemberists' The Hazards of Love), The Theory of Everything is an excellent addition to the ever-growing ranks of concept albums.

Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 rich analog synths