The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Harrow, Alix E. The Ten Thousand Doors of January. New York: Redhook 2019. Print

First Sentences:

When I was seven, I found a door.

I should capitalize that word, so you understand I'm not talking about your garden- or common-variety door that leads reliably to a white-tiled kitchen or a bedroom closet.


Description:

I'm not much of a fantasy book reader unless it happens to be about a hobbit or boy with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. However, I found myself totally engrossed with Alix E. Harrow's The Ten Thousand Doors of January with its journeys into parallel worlds through randomly-placed doorways scattered over the Earth.

January Scaller is a seven-year-old girl living in 1901 as the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke. January's father works for Locke, travelling extensively around the world to purchase (or steal) exotic treasures for his employer's pleasure. One day January stumbles on an abandoned door in the scrubby landscape of a deserted Kansas farm. Just an ordinary door, she discovers as she walks through it ... that is until afterward when she sits down to write a story about the door in her diary.

"Once there was a brave and temeraryous (sp?) girl who found a Door. It was a magic Door that's why it has a capital D. She opened the Door."

As these words hit the paper, suddenly January smells a salty fragrance of the ocean that draws her back to the door. This time when she steps through it, she finds herself on a bluff overlooking a world of a vast ocean and exotic smells. 

After stepping back into her own world, of course no one believes her tale. But the next day she finds that the door is gone, burned away to ashes. Later, January finds an ancient book called The Ten Thousand Doors tucked away in a box sent from her world-traveling father. In it, she reads a story describing other doors and the worlds behind them. It is a beautifully written, albeit sad, love story telling of a chance encounter between a boy and girl from different worlds who, after separation, spend their lives independently searching for another door that will lead them to the other person's world. 

When her father disappears, it is up to January to puzzle out the truth behind the book, to pick up the lovers' search for hidden doors, and to understand what role, if any, she plays in the story.

Maybe this plot line sounds too corny, too romantic, or simply too fantastical to bother with. But believe me, as a man with little time for such tales, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a page-turner that simply swallows you up into new worlds of stubbornly strong characters and a secret society with an agenda of their own.

I became deeply involved with this book and characters. Writing, plot, character, and setting - my four criteria for great books - were all delivered in to the highest degree of skill. Naturally, it gets my highest recommendation. 

There are ten thousand stories about ten thousand Doors, and we know them as well as we know our names. They lead to Faerie, to Valhalla, Atlantis and Lemuria, Heaven and Hell, to all the directions a compass could never take you, to elsewhere. A dividing point between here and there, us and them, mundane and magical.

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Lewis, C. S. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.   

Four children find, in the back of an old wardrobe, a doorway that leads to the secret world of Narnia where they have heroic adventures galore and even rise to become royalty.

Bears Discover Fire

Bisson, Terry. Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories. New York: Tor 1993. Print

First Sentences:

I was driving with my brother, the preacher, and my nephew, the preacher's son, on I-65 just north of Bowling Green when we got a flat.

Description:

Imagine yourself changing a flat car tire on some lonely wooded road on a dark night. Of course, your flashlight is flickering weakly. But then suddenly you are pleased to have an abundance of light. Looking up, you see a bear, quietly holding a fiery torch over your head. All you can think is, "Looks like bears have discovered fire." And there, in the woods, you notice them sitting around a campfire, quiet and calm. What could possibly happen next?

Such is the first story in Terry Bisson's wonderful collection of fantasy and sci-fi tales, Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories. This is the book for the lovers of the unusual, slightly off-kilter world that seems oh so real, or at least kind of close to our real life settings and the people we see every day. Close, yes, and yet odd and off-beat in unexpected ways. 

Among the stories in Bears Discover Fire are:

• "They're Made Out of Meat" - conversation between aliens observing humans;
• "George" - a boy born with tiny wings;
• "Necronauts"- three researchers who can die, resurrect, and tell what they saw;
• "The Message" - humans decode the first words from the dolphins;
• "Two Guys from the Future" - a visit from aliens who collect art;

And those are just a random sample of Bissen's imagination. He drops you into the middle of some far-fetched scenario, such as when the entire island of England slowly breaks away and starts to chug across the ocean, then somehow makes the situation seem entirely plausible without explaining the background leading up to the event and any conclusion (or none) that is reached.

Each story is fun as well as serious, fantastic as well as very human. It was a pleasure for me to read every tale, letting them lull you into a quirky world, then leaving you to think about the implications waiting for each character and even all of humanity when the story concludes.

I loved all of them and highly recommend them to everyone. Enjoy!

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Bradbury, Ray. The Illustrated Man.   

A series of fantasy and sci-fi stories depicted by the tattoos covering a man's body and brought to life as he sleeps, to the wonderment of his traveling companion. Each one a classic.

Chiang, Ted. Exhalation: Stories.   

Excellent, thought-provoking fantasy and sci-fi stories involving time-travel mishaps, a robot nanny, a story narrated by a highly evolved parrot, and many more exciting, fascinating stories. (previously reviewed here).

Exhalation: Stories

Chiang, Ted. Exhalation: Stories. New York: Knopf 2019. Print

First Sentences:

The story I have to tell is truly a strange one, and were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner of one's eye, the marvel of its presentation would not exceed that of the events recounted, for it is a warning to those who would be warned and a lesson to those who would learn.

Description:

I'll say right off the bat that I am a huge fan of Sci-Fi/Fantasy short story writer Ted Chiang and his mind-bending, exhilarating, and thought-provoking tales. His latest collection, Exhalation: Stories, continues his explorations into the world of the past, present and future in completely unexpected ways ranging from time travel to philosophy to alchemy to who knows what. Just plunge in to each story and hang on.

In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," an alchemist invents a time portal that, when one steps through it, travels exactly twenty years into the future. A common story, perhaps, but in Chiang's capable hands, the story keeps growing, re-shaping itself, bringing characters into completely different roles whether in the past, present, or future where they could possibly (or actually) influence the course of history. What would you do with such an invention? Sit back and find out, but it won't be what you expected.

"Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny" describes the first automated child-raising robot, an experiment to provide all necessities to a baby to ensure the perfect upbringing. Of course, there are problems. But it is the calm, intellectual reasoning behind this story that separates if from a run-of-the-mill robot gone wrong tale.

Then there is a story, "The Great Silence" narrated by a parrot who wonders why mankind seeks intelligent life in the galaxy when he and his fellow sentient parrots are sitting right next to them, about to be made extinct before given the opportunity to talk with humans. Next, in the story "Omphalos," an anthropologist finds fossils (and a mummified man with no belly button) that prove Earth and all its inhabitants were created fully formed on a specific date, not evolved as is widely believed. How does mankind handle this sort of information? 

There's a description of a hand-held device that proves all actions in the world are already fated, not the result of free will. In one brilliant story, a man examines his own robotic brain to realize the human mind is gradually slowing down and their seemingly eternal life is very slowly dying.

Each story really makes readers concentrate, ask themselves questions, and try to understand implications of plots and actions that change the thinking of human since the world begin. Fantastic.

So buckle up and open you mind in every story to new directions and challenges to preconceived notions. Like his first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others (which contains "Story of Your Life" about extraterrestrial contact used as the basis for the Amy Adams film, Arrival). Highly recommended for all readers.

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Chiang, Ted. Stories of Your Life and Others.   

Excellent, thought-provoking Sci-Fi stories involving alien landing on Earth, the construction of the tallest building in history that hits a previously-unknown solid ceiling enclosing the world, and many more exciting, fascinating stories.

Once Upon a River

Setterfield, Diane. Once Upon a River. New York: John Murray 2018. Print

First Sentences:

There was once an inn that sat peacefully on the bank of the Thames at Radcot, a day's walk from the source. .

There were a great many inns along the upper reaches of the Thames at the time of this story and you could get drunk in all of them, but beyond the usual ale and cider each one had some particular pleasure to offer.....

The Swan at Radcot had its own specialty. It was where you went for storytelling.

Description:

What greater pleasure is there than to have a captivating story read aloud to you? Witness the popularity of audio books and parents curling up with young children and a book. There's just something about a skilled storyteller delivering a well-practiced narration that totally pulls you into a dreamy world of mythical environment, strong characters and intriguing plot. Think of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings for the best examples of novels that beg to be read aloud.

Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River joins the ranks of such an oral history. The novel is written as if we readers are listening to the words and descriptions of a great storyteller who narrates and embellishes each scene to heighten the feeling of mystery and fantasy. You get the feeling that this story has been told and re-told over many years by storytellers who coaxed and changed words and descriptions to achieve a smoothness of a terse narration that achieves the most impact on listeners.

As to the plot for Once Upon a River? Well, it takes place in the 19th century, primarily in the lands and people who frequent the Swan of Radcot tavern in England on the Thames River. Taverns in those days had specialties (fighting, food, games, song, etc.). The Swan was known for storytelling, and boy, do the patrons have a story to discuss, argue about, tweak, and re-tell countless times.

Late one night, an unfamiliar child is carried into the Swan by a man wet and severely injured as if he survived a terrible boating accident. The child is unmarked and clearly dead (no breathing,no heartbeat, nearly frozen from being in the river). But later that night, the child stirs and comes back to life. How? Why? And who is she?

Could she be the child kidnapped four years ago from the wealthy neighborhood family who quickly take the child home with them? Or is she the daughter of a woman found dead by suicide in a nearby boarding house? While the girl resembles these children, there are some doubts that she is who they think she is. Because she has never spoken a word, the uncertainty remains and the stories abound.

Setterfield drops us into The Rose and its locals so we can hear and observe them ponder this mysterious girl and her circumstances, and tell their own stories to explain this miraculous return to life. We readers become listeners, like quiet bystanders overhearing various tales and watching them on their adventures to try to unravel the story behind the girl and find her rightful place in the world.
The river plays a major role throughout this story, and thus the writing about it is particularly full of imagery and emotions:

• There was no idle splashing [of the river] on the way, only the purposeful surge forwards, and behind the high-pitched ringing of water on shingle at the river's edge was a king of hum, the sort you would expect to hear inside your ears after a bell has been struck by a hammer and the audible ringing has died away. It had the shape of noise but lacked the sound, a sketch without color.

• It is a good thing to be solo on the river. There is freedom. You are neither in one place nor the other, but always on the move, in between. You escape everything and belong to no one.

• It was better to tell such stories close to the river than in a drawing room. Words accumulate indoors, trapped by walls and ceilings. The weight of what has been said can lie heavily on what might yet be said and suffocate it. By the river the air carries the story on a journey: one sentence drifts away and makes room for the next. 

I really enjoyed the dreaminess of the environment surrounding The Rose; the efforts of storytellers who try to make sense (and a good story) of this occurrence; and the people who pursue leads to find the girl's history. Definitely worth the attention of any reader willing to get lost in a bygone era of stories and storytelling.

There are stories that may be told aloud, and stories that must be told in whispers, and there are stories that are never told at all. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Setterfield, Diane The Thirteenth Tale.   

A reclusive author of twelve famous stories decides to reveal, in her old age, the story of her own life to a young biographer. What emerges are fascinating characters and ghosts of both women's pasts. 

A Sound of Thunder

Bradbury, Ray. A Sound of Thunder & Other Stories. New York: HarperCollins. 1990. Print.

First Sentences:

Out there in the cold water, far from land, we waited every night for the coming of the fog, and it came, and we oiled the brass machinery and lit the fog light up in the stone tower.

Feeling like two birds in the gray sky, McDunn and I sent the light touching out, red, then white, then red again, to eye the lonely ships..

Description:

After reading any one of the science fiction/fantasy stories in Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder & Other Stories, I had to put the book down and reflect. The plot, the characters, the writing were so strong, so real, so interesting that I couldn't just plunge into the next story right away. I needed time to roll the images and events over and over in my mind. Read a sample sentence for yourself.

The darkness like a velvet shroud hung before her to be stroked by a trembling hand, with the darkness like a black panther breathing there, looking at her with unlit eyes...

With none of the usual ray guns and aliens often found in sci-fi/fantasy literature, A Sound of Thunder gives tales of people facing challenges familiar to all of us: love, uncertainty, obsession, racism, decision, and adventure. Yet each one is told in a unique voice, making the situation and people uniquely fascinating and compelling. Here's what I mean:

• A lighthouse fog horn that calls out to the lonely ocean and a creature millions of years old responds;

• A rocket ship pilot, on leave with his family at his home, simply cannot resist the call of space;

• A baseball game at a resort between the white guests and the black staff;

• A murderer obsessed with erasing every fingerprint he might have left at the crime scene;

• A hunter who time-travels back to confront a T-Rex;

• A young woman who contemplates her impending rocket ride to Mars where she will marry her waiting boyfriend.

These are people with dreams, with pride, morals, passion, and of course greed, bigotry, and ego. Each story is written by a master of words, sucking you into the plot and motivations immediately and hold on through the final paragraph. 

[The foghorn's voice was] like an empty bed beside you all night long, and like an empty house when you open the door, and like trees in autumn with no leaves. A sound like the birds flying south, crying, and a sound like November wind and the sea on the hard, cold shore....a sound that's so alone that no one can miss it, that whoever hears it will weep in their souls, and hearths will seem warmer, and being inside will seem better to all who hear it in the distant towns....whoever hears it will know the sadness of eternity and the briefness of life.

And that's just one random paragraph, full of Bradbury's images and imagination. In A Sound of Thunder, you have 300+ pages of equally compelling, breath-taking writing. Simply the best characters, plots and writing there is. 

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles

Chronological science fiction stories about the exploration of Mars by Man, from the first ships to the final days of Earth. Fabulous. (previously reviewed here)

The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1965. Print.

First Sentences:

When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

Description:

OK, that's probably the worst opening sentence imaginable for any great book, bar none. But my personal rule is that longer, high-quality books do not need to offer a first sentence with the same impact of those in a shorter books. I allow longer books a page or two or even a chapter so I can get a feel for the author's language, characters, and plot before making any judgment. I know, it's my own quirky rationalization, so sue me.

With J.R.R. Tolkien's epic The Lord of the Rings, the language and atmosphere even on those initial pages create a setting. This is a world of simple folk and carefree existence, a world soon to be contrasted with stark forces of evil from the world outside.


In fact, it is not until the end of the initial chapter that the real adventure and action begins. And once the ride begins, the language and plot don't let go for the next 1,100 pages. With the promise of such depth and epic story-telling, I for one am willing to give a very long book a few pages to warm up.

(LOTR actually is one story rather than a triolgy, but was divided and published in three volumes during World War II to save printing and binding costs. LOTR consists of a prologue, six books, and five appendices divided into three separate volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King). 

The setting is in ancient times of Middle-earth, a world populated by wizards (good and evil), elves, dwarves, men, orcs (very bad), a Balrog (don't even ask as it is too dark and powerful to even think about!), and hobbits, the small, quiet people minding their own business and living at peace in a secluded corner of this world.

A simple gold ring falls into the hands of one hobbit named Frodo Baggins, a ring with the power to make its wearer invisible. But Frodo soon learns that the ring is actually the most powerful object in the world. It is the ancient ring which can control all other magical rings (and therefore all Middle-earth) created for powerful leaders in ancient times.

It becomes Frodo's task to destroy the ring in the only way possible: tossing it into Mt. Doom, the fiery mountain where it was originally forged. Unfortunately, that location is deep in the heart in the land of Mordor where lies the fortress of the evil wizard Sauron who also seeks the ring. 

There is no need for me to say more about the plot to convince any fence-sitters to plunge into these books. Suffice to say LOTR provides danger, temptation, treachery, death, beauty, honesty, friendship, and the struggle of the highest order between Good and Evil on every page.

Think about this as a criteria for reading any book. If your family was away for a long weekend, the temperatures outside dipping into single digits, and all your household and work responsibilities were taken care of, what book would you select to settle in with a blanket and warm drink in front of a fire? My choice is and always will be The Lord of the Rings, where Evil is very, very bad, but Good and Truth and Honor are still the stronger forces.

Happy reading.

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again

The initial book describing the quest of another Hobbit to recover the treasure of Dwarves which is guarded by a dragon. Along the way the all-controlling ring is accidently found and carried off back to the quiet Shire, leading up to the action described in The Lord of the Rings. A simpler, more childlike book, but a must read before tackling The Lord of the Rings.