"The Crystal Cave" by Mary Stewart

“The gods only go with you if you put yourself in their path. And that takes courage.” 

Quite enchanting fantasy/historical saga that promises to deal with mythological king Arthur, however at first the stage is set by explaining who the main characters are, therefore this particular book is focused on childhood of legendary Merlin and how he came to be feared and notorious wizard of Bronze Age Britain. Like so many classic literary orphans who later grew from ugly ducklings into majestic swans, this boy (called by his Welsh name Myrddin Emrys here) has to endure cold and loveless childhood, just to find the solace and friendship trough mysterious hermit Galapas who welcomes him in a lonely cave and this is where boy learns to use his clairvoyant powers. Almost everybody in this story is just a piece of a much bigger puzzle, so its not accidental that Galapas is here to teach Merlin what he needs to know later in life, when his main task becomes clear. 

Mary Stewart was already famous author, when in her fifties she came up with this retelling of Arthurian legend - obviously inspired with unforgettable "The Once and Future King". In fact, chronologically and aesthetically this fits perfectly somewhere between T.H.White and later Marion Zimmer Bradley - its not exactly masterpiece like "The Once and Future King", neither pagan-worshipping, dark "The Mists of Avalon"  but their very enjoyable distant cousin with distinctive qualities, poetic language and beautiful imagery completely distinguished on their own. Stewart does her own magic by pulling the reader in a post-Roman Britain with its dangers, treacheries and superstitions, in a world where people put their ears to ground to hear horses arriving and wars are fought frequently left and right (Britain still has to be united as such) - if personally I find one small objection, it would be that Stewart sacrifices the flow of the action for lyrical descriptions of forest and valleys, which pretty as they are, freeze the story cold - but one must take it as a essential part of her storytelling. 

One interesting (and somewhat puzzling) thing is that Stewart completely shies away from any strong female characters. I understand this was written in pre-feminist time, but since writer herself was a woman, you would kind of expect just one powerful woman - not to be found here (if mentioned at all, they are servants, milkmaids, washerwomen and nuns). Perhaps Stewart was just being cautious, since the Arthurian legend has characters set in the stone and she basically weaved her story around the established frame - it took nine more years until Marion Zimmer Bradley arrived with her "The Mists of Avalon" that completely changed this point of view and introduced women as much more than livestock. In fact, where initially I found "The Mists of Avalon"  enjoyable but trashy guilty pleasure, now it seems as much more important progress in variation of ancient legend (it gave Arthurian women voices where previously they were silenced). 

"The Talisman" by Stephen King and Peter Straub

Interesting collaboration between two celebrated authors - the process of joined creation always strikes me fascinating, since it means input from two people with enough respect for each other to give other side a freedom and space to come up with ideas. By 1984 both King and Straub were successful enough respectively so this might sound as a safe bet, however it is still a curiosity that two such famous people decided to cook something together, not many authors are able to do that.

Contrary to my expectations, "The Talisman" is actually not a horror at all. Sure, it has occasional dark and chilling moments, its occasionally even creepy but mainly this is a fantasy story with a twelve-year old protagonist floating between two worlds (our reality and its mirror image, which is kind of medieval) in a search of talisman that will cure his dying mother. Jack Sawyer is kind of medieval knight himself (despite his young age) in a search for a Holy Grail and along the way he has to journey trough difficult and dangerous places, encounters all sorts of strange characters, avoid the enemies and befriends delightfully bizarre sidekicks. It was a fairly gripping read, as you would expect from anything that King wrote and if there is one thing that slightly bothered me, it was that my affections were not so much centred on Sawyer kid (who is supposed to be the main character) but far more towards his comical sidekicks - as if they are aware of this, authors eventually decided to eliminate everybody who might upstage their main hero (noble boy fighting to cure his mother) which upset me greatly and I even considered stop reading the darn book any further - once my favourite character was out of the story, it lost its charm and attraction for me and the rest was just plodding away to its conclusion. Authors tried to patch it up later, but I wasn't convinced. I noticed this with Stephen King already before, the tendency to create literary characters we get attached to, just to dispose of them in the next chapter, it is a kind of mental cruelty, really. 

"If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home" by Lucy Worsley

Earlier this year I was enjoying historical TV documentaries by wonderful Helen Castor - even read her book "She wolves" about earliest female rulers in England - so naturally, eventually I came to discover another celebrated historian and TV celebrity, doctor Lucy Worsley. Now, Worsley is completely different kind of presenter - she is also hugely knowledgeable and informed but hers is lighthearted and sparkling presence, perhaps also because she looks petite, cute and somehow mischievous. There is a steel behind her charming smile and I can sense the strength behind that bubbly personality, so don't be fooled by all that cuteness, but she is extremely interesting and TV is definitely perfect medium for somebody so engaging - Worsley did many TV documentaries and they are all available on youtube, in fact there is actually a programme where both Worsley and Castor appear together, however I needed something lighter after bone-chilling previous book so I decided to dive into Worsley's "If Walls Could Talk" (while simultaneously watching her TV show) just for a welcome change of pace.

Worsley is hugely entertaining and very charming as a TV presenter - this book is a tie-in with a celebrated TV show - it is a kind of female answer to similar book by Bill Bryson who has already covered very much the same territory earlier, but where Bryson simply roams trough the house and gleefully recount all sorts of random anecdotes that had popped up in his mind, Worsley is much more focused - instead of exploring the house from bottom to the top, she zooms on four rooms of particular interest to her: bedroom, bathroom, living room and a kitchen. It is a very interesting story and full of delightful little details about the ways everyday life has changed trough the centuries, but it must be told that particular charm and spark that Worsley personality has in abundance on TV screen don't necessary translate in the book - not that the book is dry or boring (far from it), its just that by reading the book you would never guess what a delightful TV personality she is - I recommend checking the TV show, simply for the fun of seeing her doing all sorts of crazy experiments, which are not part of the book itself.