I Dream of Djinni

In my own tiny, sad homage to Nick Hornby’s old monthly contribution to The Believer magazine, I present the Stuff I’ve Been Reading. I haven’t really settled on a schedule, and I’m almost afraid to list the books that I’ve bought so far this month (it’s a lot), but I’m ready to go.

Earlier this month I read Ji-li Jiang’s Red Scarf Girl, a memoir about her life as a twelve year-old girl in China during the Cultural Revolution. It was sitting near the old middle-school classic Farewell to Manzanar, and the blossoming Commie China buff in me was intrigued. (I say this after reading, what, three books about Communist China? Maybe?) It’s definitely at the YA level, but I’ll admit that if I hadn’t worked my way through Jung Chang’s Wild Swans last year, I wouldn’t have fully appreciated what was going on. The extent of what occurred with Mao pre-Cultural Revolution, as well as some general background on China, are almost essential. I suppose my point here is that this is definitely a teaching book, and needs to be put in context with discussions. It also deals with some pretty heavy issues, what with families being violently torn apart by Red Guards and all.

Aside from the needed supplements, it’s a really great read. It paints a quick, vivid picture of life at the time, at that age. It’s probably best suited for kids around thirteen, as the narrator is at their level. You get the good lessons about standing up for what’s morally right and being as true to yourself as you can be under a fascist government hellbent on destroying you for the crimes of your ancestors. Hm. Cheery.

In slightly happier, if not lighter reading, I’ve been listening to the audiobooks for Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus Trilogy while I work on my projects. They’re books I’ve read before and really love, so the audiobooks are a great way for me to relive them. Simon Jones is an absolutely fantastic narrator, capturing the snark and smarm of Bartimaeus the djinn and his copious footnotes brilliantly. Sadly, the footnotes lose their oomph when you don’t know what words are coming from where, but the seamless integration is pretty impressive. Good on you, Mr. Jones.

These books are about, of course, Bartimaeus. He’s a djinn from the Other Place and is summoned into an alternate version of London where magicians have taken over as the government. The true source of the magicians’ power, unbeknown to the commoners, are spirits of various levels from the Other Place. Bartimaeus falls somewhere in the middle.

Parts of the books are narrated by Bartimaeus, others by his child-magician summoner, Nathaniel. (Magician name, John. Oh, I see what you did there, Jonathan. I’m on to you.) They have quite an unusual relationship, as any good odd couple does, both being a bit snippy and petulant in their own way. They both know the real name of the other, which is the most powerful weapon when it comes to magic, so neither is fully in command of the other. The tug-of-war is pretty hilarious.

But their main struggle is against the mysterious Resistance, perpetrated by commoners. Possibly children. Oh the political intrigue! No, actually, it’s quite well-done. This alternate London and its mechanics are well thought-out and the requisite cliches are dressed up so nice that you just don’t care.

Okay, yes, I love that it’s drowning in sarcasm. But how can you not?

Side note – I am truly saddened by the lack of love for this book. And the lack of fanart. Because we all know that fanart is the true measure of popularity. (We’re pretending fanfiction doesn’t exist. It takes far too much effort for me to evaluate.) Truly, these books are underrated. Go read them. Right now.

I picked up a number of other possibly promising YA books while at the bookmine this month. Things like Magyk and The Alchemyst and whatever other books feel the need to substitute in a y for some vowel that was doing a perfectly good job on its own, but we have to make they tytle look catchy and wytchy because that’s the rage, ryght? (Boy oh boy, if only they’d ban ME from schools, then I’D get popular too! I mean, it worked for Harry Potter.) Sound logic, everyone. Well done.

No, I’m sure they’re perfectly delightful. But I’ll let you know.

Tags: bartimaeus, bartimaeus trilogy, books, china, cultural revolution, fiction, ji-li jiang, jonathan stroud, magic, red scarf girl, teaching books, YA