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AUTHOR'S NOTES
Books in Fishes
Since books were so important to me as a child (and an adult) and are such a major part of the book, and because I’m the sort of person who loves getting book recommendations from other books, I’ve put together this annotated bibliography of books that appear in my book. The titles link to amazon.com if the books are still in print. You may also order them directly from your favorite bookstore or via booksense.com, which will link you with an independent bookshop in your area.
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| CHAPTER ONE: AN OFFICER AND A GNOME |
The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley
A classic of modern fantasy which was sent to me by Nancy, the English professor. The fantasy land in the book, Damar, was inspired by Raj-era India, and that’s why Nancy thought I’d like the book. In fact, I had no idea that Damar was inspired by India, because the resemblance is purely political rather than geographical or cultural, and didn’t know what Damar was based on until someone told me when I was an adult.
In the most pleasing coincidence of my life so far, my agent is married to Robin McKinley’s agent, and so I was able to meet her. I gave her a signed copy of Fishes, and she gave me one of The Blue Sword.
I discuss McKinley at greater length in my list of recommended fantasy: High Fantasy.
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Child of the Silent Night, by Edith Hunter Fisher
The book my father had me read to the kindergarten teacher was actually about Laura Bridgeman, a deaf and blind child who learned to communicate fifty years before Helen Keller did. But I didn’t want to take the time to explain that, so I made up a quote from an imaginary child’s biography of the more familiar Helen Keller instead.
The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien
Many, if not most of you have already read this, but if not… it’s great, go read it. If you get stuck about a fourth of the way into the first book, skip ahead to the chapter called “The Old Forest.”
My father read this aloud to me when I was a child, but early on I became so impatient to know what would happen next that I finished it by myself. I’m glad my parents didn’t name me Arwen, because I never cared for her in the book. (Like Boromir, she’s much more interesting and likable in the movie.) Sam and Eowyn were my favorite characters.
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| CHAPTER THREE: JOHNNY REBEK'S MACHINE |
Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
A famously long, dense, and erudite tome by a famously mysterious and reclusive author. The opening sentence is “A screaming comes across the sky.”
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| CHAPTER FOUR: THE KALIYUGA AGE |
These are all books I found in the pilgrim library. The first set are adult books that were popular among hippies and intellectuals, and the second set are children’s books. Steppenwolf, and Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
I haven’t read either of these, but the first is a philosophical novel and the second is about the Buddha. People at the ashram kept recommending them to me, but I couldn’t get into either of them. The Tao of Physics, by Fritjof Capra
I read part of this as a kid but didn’t finish it. It and another ashram favorite, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, attempt to prove that Asian and New Age philosophy predicted and/or explain quantum physics. I know nothing about physics, but a friend of mine who’s a high-energy particle physicist says they get the physics wrong.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig
Yet another philosophical book; yet another one everyone but me read.
Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
Satirical science fiction. I did read this one, but I’m not a big Vonnegut fan.
The Peacock Garden, by Anita Desai
An out of print children’s book about a girl whose family hides in the garden of a mosque for several months after religious riots break out when India is partitioned. I remember it having a quietly magical, Secret Garden atmosphere, but I have never been able to find a copy. If you see one, I would be interested in buying it.
Wild Animals I Have Known, by Ernest Thompson Seton
Each chapter is about a different wild animal, and each concludes with that animal’s gruesome death. A significant entry in the popular genre of “Children’s books about animals which conclude with the animal’s horrible death, frequently given as gifts to animal-loving children by adults whom one hopes don’t realize how traumatized the poor kid will be.”
The Adventures of Sudhir and Shailie
This probably isn’t even the right title and I kick myself for not stealing this book, because I’ve never been able to find it again. It’s about a brother and a sister named Sudhir and Shailie who take over a sweet shop after their parents die. An evil official breaks the glass, causing flies to swarm the sweets, causing the shop to be shut down. (That’s got to be a first in India— flies normally swarm the sweets with no repercussions other than being swatted.) The siblings run away to get the money to repair the window and pay the fine, and are menaced by a man with a jackal’s head. If you have any idea what this book is actually called or who the author is, please email me.
The Black Stallion and the Girl, by Walter Farley
All of Farley’s Black Stallion books are pretty good reads, if you like horse novels. This one is unusual because it takes on sexism in the racing world. A hippie girl named Pam shows up at the racing stable and Alec Ramsey, the owner of The Black [Stallion] falls for her; so does The Black. (Not in the same way, you perv!) The stable manager, an old-school sexist, strongly objects. Pam was based on Farley’s daughter, who died young in a car crash, and she’s overly idealized. Still, I liked it.
A Dog Like No Other, by W. MacKellar
An adventure story about a boy and his dog, full of Scottish atmosphere. The dog doesn’t die. Whew. Also memorable for teaching me that if you like the taste of butter, you should turn the thing you’ve just buttered upside-down when you eat it, so your tongue is in direct contact with the best part.
Bob, Son of Battle, by Alfred Ollivant
Another Scottish dog book, this one concluding with the gruesome deaths of almost every dog in the village. Really. They end up in a pile like the one outside the ashram. The link is to an online text; skip to the last chapter for the Dead Dog-O-Rama.
National Velvet, by Enid Bagnold
“Unearthly humps of land curved into the darkening sky like the backs of browsing pigs, like the rumps of elephants. At night when the stars rose over them they looked like a starlit herd of divine pigs. The villagers called them Hullocks.”
Yes, not quite your typical horsie novel. The whole book is written in that style, which some people love and some choke on. I still like it.
Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy, by Jay Williams
One of a series of books about kids having scientific adventures. My favorites were Danny Dunn and the Smallifying Machine (which taught me the concept of surface tension by making the miniaturized kids unable to break the surface of a water drop) and Danny Dunn on the Ocean Floor. Williams’ stand-alone fantasies The Hero From Otherwhere, People of the Ax, and Time of the Kraken are well worth reading, if you can find them.
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