For the last two years, I've been taking part in the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge over at Long and Short Reviews. (The first link will take you to the list of topics; the second one goes to the homepage, where you can find a post with everyone's responses each week. Feel free to join in!)
The prompt for today is "the saddest book I've ever read."
I don't, as a general thing, read sad books. This is because I don't find the experience cathartic; quite the opposite. They generally just make me sad, and maybe angry, and I don't like that. But that's not to say it never happens.
The one that sticks out in my memory -- and I'm sure I've talked about this before -- is The Name of the Rose, which I read in something like ninth grade in lieu of The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I'd read already. The Name of the Rose (and this next bit is mild spoilers, but it was published in 1994 so I think this is fair) is a murder mystery set in a medieval abbey, and culminates with the library of the abbey catching fire and the whole thing -- common books and irreplaceable manuscripts alike -- burning down.
I read the book once. I watched the movie once. I will not traumatize myself that way again.
So that one probably gets the award. Second place would go to Emma Bull's Finder. Finder is part of the Borderlands series (now largely -- and tragically -- out of print) and takes place in a city positioned between our world and the Elflands. And it, too, is a murder mystery in its way... or at least, it starts out as one, which is how our protagonist Orient gets dragged into things. It is not, overall, a sad book -- but it has a sad resolution, and the story handles it very well.
(Do a search on Ellen Kushner or Terri Windling if you want to find more of/about Borderlands. Also, Emma Bull is not a terribly prolific author, but her work is extremely good -- War for the Oaks is probably the genesis of the modern Urban Fantasy genre.)
I’m looking up all three of those authors now. They sound cool.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I've read War of the Oaks, possibly was one of my first Urban Fantasy reads. I had hoped to read Finder too sometime -- looks like I won't now. Or maybe I'll just save it for the next blue moon. Thanks for the rec!
ReplyDeleteFinder seems to have made its way onto Kindle; it's the earlier anthologies that are harder to find.
DeleteI remember watching The Name of the Rose, but I've never read the book. I should, though.
ReplyDeleteThe Name of the Rose was on TV. I'll have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteI should read The Name of the Rose. It sounds interesting.
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