April 26th

Day 117
14.096 read, -1.246
Sylvie and Bruno Complete 229-384

Wow, some great things happening today!  First, I read 156 pages, a record for this year!  This may end up being the day with the most pages read for the entire year, since once I catch up to my goal I think I'll slow down a bit.  It was an easy read though; Sylvie and Bruno is pretty quick and easy.

Second, I'm now at 14 books read!  Woohoo.

Third, I'm now less than two books behind my goal!  Right now I'm 1 book and 246 pages behind the goal.  And that puts me squarely back in the range of how far behind I was at times before the "long break" I took last month.

So I got a three-fer today! :D  Now looking forward to getting less than 1 book behind my goal, and then looking forward to finally catching up with it!

The book is going well, and actually, I think Sylvie and Bruno Concluded is a better book than Sylvie and Bruno, though it is very similar.  It's actually much more adult and serious than the first one, so it that way is even odder than the first one.  And he really outdoes himself with subject matter, ranging from political philosphy (he's against Socialism) to the possible boredom and depression of eternal life (he thinks we can't ponder eternal life because it's like a baby pondering adult matters) to charity (he's against just giving your extra money and feeling good about it) to the true nature of sin (he thinks a murderer may be less guilty than one who can't resist a tiny and easily resistable temptation) to eugenics (and, oddly, discussed by a German or anyway an alien man with a German title, and Carroll doesn't really make his opinion on the matter fully clear) and on and on.  But while the good doctor still lectures sometimes like in the first book, Carroll's better in this book about dividing the way the subjects are discussed and presenting them less lecture-like, and I think the subjects he chooses are interesting to consider.

And then there's the death again.  Wow, he really pulls no punches.  *spoiler alert* If you think what I've described of a "children's" book sounds odd, so far, wait until you hear what's next.  So, the doctor never left for India like he was planning in the first book and the lady broke off her engagement to the cousin because her cousin wasn't "Christian" enough.  So then the doctor (the "hero" of the story) and the lady become engaged.  Then, in the fisherman's section of the village, a terrible illness breaks out similar to the Black Plague.  They manage to confine it to that one area though.

The night of the engagement party for the doctor and the lady, officials come to tell the doctor that the doctor in the fisherman's village has also died from the plague and that they need a doctor to come.  He knows it means almost certain death if he goes but he does decide to go, saying it's his duty.  He and the lady marry the next morning in a quickie ceremony just before he leaves for the quarantined fisherman's village.

He does die in the village, and in what I think was a nicely contrasted scene, when the narrator meets the lady in the cemetery months later in her mourning clothes, she falls down on the ground and says the exact same words that Sylvie said when she flung herself on the ground beside the dead hare.  Something about "Oh, you're life should've been so beautiful" or some such.

So, a very strange turn of events for a children's book.  I really thought it'd end with the doctor and lady married and happy at the end.  As Carroll wrote in an Alice book, "Curiouser and curiouser".  But, in thinking it over, it does make sense from a religious duty viewpoint.  It's obvious he wanted to infuse his religious thoughts in these two books, and so if you look at if from a religious morals viewpoint, it makes more sense.  He wanted to present a scene that showed how moral and how far the doctor was willing to go to help others, which would go hand in hand with the charity discussion they had earlier in the book.  And while secular books would obviously usually shy away from death discussions in children's books, when you add the religious element, people are much more likely to discuss death with children then, thinking they need to learn how to approach the thought of it and to illustrate religious principles and sacrifice, which is exactly the reason it happens here.

Anyway, I'm near the end now, and the narrator is finally back in Outland and we're finally dealing with the Sub-Warden and his wife again (who are now Emperor and Empress).  I was wondering if they were going to come back or if that section had been completely forgotten.

In fact, it's all given a very nice sandwiched effect that I'm only now seeing at the end and I like it.  Meaning, first it starts with the narrator in Outland, almost invisible to everyone, and the Outland drama.  Then Sylvie and Bruno recognise the narrator and get him to go with them outside and eventually he watches them become fairies.

Then it changes to where he meets them as fairies and they treat him as a visitor/guest (not invisible) and play with him.  Then, they show up in the real world, being able to go there and become bigger and visible to other humans.

Then it all reverses quickly.  They're in the real world, then they disappear.  Then after the doctor dies, he takes a walk with the lady where they both finally reveal that they both believe in fairies and then here comes Sylvie and Bruno for both of them to see, singing.  And this time the humans are invisible to the fairies and after Sylvie and Bruno walk out of sight, the lady remarks that they're gone from that world for good.

And then, finally, they're back in Outland, and, as at the beginning of the first book, the narrator is as if invisible there, or rather ignored, and Sylvie and Bruno have come back for a banquet the Emperor and Empress are having.

And that's where I'm at.  Full circle if you will.  I suppose the end will deal with the Emperor and Empress tricking Sylvie and Bruno's father out of being the ruler of Outland (though he's now the king of Fairyland and hasn't been seen for much of the book).

I plan to finish this tomorrow (only about 30 pages left) and not sure what I'll start on next.  If I were sure which book would win the mobileread vote I'd start on it, but I'm not.  It's fantasy month and there's a three way run-off between Neverwhere, Kraken and The King of Elfland's Daughter.  I am rooting for the King of Elfland but it's a very close vote and at the moment Neverwhere is in the lead by one vote.  I suspected before the run-off vote went up and I still suspect that Neverwhere will win, unfortunately.  But I can't be sure, so tomorrow after Sylvie and Bruno I'll be starting *something* else, I'm just not sure what.