2011 Reading #67: Meeks by Julia Holmes
Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
61. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris.
62. Rules for Radicals by Saul D. Alinsky.
63. Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin.
64. Redemption In Indigo by Karen Lord.
65. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
66. James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest by Michael P. Malone.
67. Meeks: A Novel by Julia Holmes. Let us, for a moment, sing the praises of Small Beer Press. Aside from being attractive and well-spoken individuals with significant talent in wordsmithing, they have spent the past 11 years publishing collections which might not otherwise have seen print, reprinting obscure or under-served books, and finding new talents like Holmes, here. If Small Beer Press were a leadoff hitter it would be batting at least .950, and I'd wager that you could not find another publisher of their size or larger of whom that is true. I say all this now because, having recently read and loved Redemption In Indigo, I am equally impressed by Meeks, a very different book. Meeks is very odd, very funny, and very sad (usually all three simultaneously); it's the sort of book that keeps you off balance throughout, keeping you tethered with fantastic prose and the sensation of an impending personal doom for its beleaguered protagonists. It's as if Holmes has had jacked up one side of a house and then forced you to get underneath to look for clues without telling you what the crime was. Meeks doesn't believe that there is a way of getting to the bottom of why things are the way they are; what it's interested in is showing the distortions and decay of another world in order to force the readers to look at their own. Really impressive stuff.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
61. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris.
62. Rules for Radicals by Saul D. Alinsky.
63. Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin.
64. Redemption In Indigo by Karen Lord.
65. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
66. James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest by Michael P. Malone.
67. Meeks: A Novel by Julia Holmes. Let us, for a moment, sing the praises of Small Beer Press. Aside from being attractive and well-spoken individuals with significant talent in wordsmithing, they have spent the past 11 years publishing collections which might not otherwise have seen print, reprinting obscure or under-served books, and finding new talents like Holmes, here. If Small Beer Press were a leadoff hitter it would be batting at least .950, and I'd wager that you could not find another publisher of their size or larger of whom that is true. I say all this now because, having recently read and loved Redemption In Indigo, I am equally impressed by Meeks, a very different book. Meeks is very odd, very funny, and very sad (usually all three simultaneously); it's the sort of book that keeps you off balance throughout, keeping you tethered with fantastic prose and the sensation of an impending personal doom for its beleaguered protagonists. It's as if Holmes has had jacked up one side of a house and then forced you to get underneath to look for clues without telling you what the crime was. Meeks doesn't believe that there is a way of getting to the bottom of why things are the way they are; what it's interested in is showing the distortions and decay of another world in order to force the readers to look at their own. Really impressive stuff.