It's been a year, and all I've read was almost half of the Wheel of Time series.

 Hello everyone,

It's been a while, and my life has completely changed.

I don't live as close to a beach as I used to! Instead, I live closer to a city I enjoy, my family, and a support network of friends. 

I fell short of my reading goal of 200 books last year. I got to 189 and the holidays got the better of me. Too often I think we've become afraid of failing, and this was an exercise in being unafraid of failure. Failing meant I still read 189 books, and that's pretty good. I'm still kinda proud of myself for taking so much time for reading. 

 

Since then, I've been working my way through the Wheel of Time series. Robert, the friend who got me into comic books last year, said that he read Wheel of Time in middle school and got through the 10th book and quit. The books are written by Robert Jordan (not the same Robert as the Robert who got me into comic books, obvs.) who has some weird ideas about women... but we'll get to that.

Wheel of Time is going to be an Amazon Prime series at some point, starring Rosamund Pike. The series has been lauded for its diverse cast (even though a lot of the principle characters are still white.) Also I'll argue that we can never have true diversity in our media and culture if we continue to pull from the same white male literary canon.

The book series is 14 books long and the titles are as follows:

1. Eye of the World
2. The Great Hunt
3. The Dragon Reborn
4. A Shadow Rising
5. Fires of Heaven
6. Lord of Chaos
7. A Crown of Swords (I am here)
8. The Path of Daggers
9. Winter's Heart
10. Crossroads of Twilight
11. Knife of Dreams
12. The Gathering Storm
13. Towers of Midnight
14. A Memory of Light

Jordan died partway through writing the series, so some of these books were written by a guy named Brandon Sanderson. I heard he was a major Wheel of Time stan and decided to take it upon himself to finish the series using Jordan's remaining notes, and with the blessing of Jordan's wife (who was also Jordan's editor).

Instead of reading the books with my eyeballs, I am listening to them on audiobook. Audiobooks are becoming my preferred method of consuming literature because I feel like I can absorb details a little better than when I read them, and I can do other things while listening. Normally I listen to audiobooks while taking a walk, but it's also nice to listen to a book while I'm driving or while I'm sitting in the evening and knitting. Michael Kramer and Kate Reading read ALL of the Wheel of Time, and they're absolute champs. Sometimes, there are long stretches where people stand around the room and Jordan describes what everyone is wearing, and I can sense a little impatience in Kramer's voice! I get impatient, too, during these parts, so it's fine.

The fourth book, A Shadow Rising, which is 41 hours long, got me through my big move. I listened to the longest stretch, about 8 hours straight, while driving through 7 states to my destination! Let me be real: These are not the most groundbreaking works of literature I've read, but there's something comforting about them. Jordan bases a lot of his concepts on various Asian myths and European legends (Arthurian legend is the most dominant.) He also draws a lot of inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien, so much so that Eye of the World seems almost like a Fellowship of the Ring retelling. It quickly finds its own unique footing.

The main thing that makes these books unique is its gender-based magic system. The magic system also is the root of many of this series' problems. Men and women draw power from the "true source." Women take a power called Saidar, and men take Saidin. Women weave flows of magic using primarily water, air and spirit, while men use fire and earth. Jordan's world is a theoretical matriarchy, where an order of women in power, the Aes Sedai, use their power to guide world leaders. Saidin, the male half of the true source, has been tainted by the Dark One long ago, and any man who tries to channel the power eventually goes mad. If the women find men who can channel, they are automatically "gentled" (severed from the true source) for their own good.

One man who can channel, Rand al'Thor, becomes "The Dragon Reborn" a hero of legend reincarnated! He and his two friends, Mat and Perrin, are considered ta'veren, people who can influence those around them. There are three women who I would consider main characters as well: Egwene, a young women who is "strong in the power," Nynaeve, a young village wisdom who can only channel if she's angry, and Elayne, the daughter-heir of the kingdom of Andor. Wheel of Time was written mostly before Game of Thrones, so Jordan doesn't really kill off characters. The structure of his world almost doesn't allow it, as heroes can be "woven back into the pattern" from a world of dreams. Yeah, this book series is a little wild.

The other thing I'm doing, for myself, but also for Robert's entertainment (since he told me about this series) is I've been writing Wheel of Time letters and mailing them to Robert. If you have not yet taken up hand-writing and snail-mailing letters during a global pandemic, what are you even doing? Look, I know I'm not going to single-handedly save the US Postal Service from certain ruination at the hands of bad-faith actors, but I'm going to try! I got a bunch of stamps with fruit and flowers on them, and started hand-writing lengthy book reports about Fires of Heaven. Robert has been a good sport about it all, and he's written back twice when I've asked very important literary questions!

I've written other letters to other people, but I think I might publish some excerpts from the Wheel of Time letters here, when I get the chance. And if you want a letter from me, just ask! I'll write about almost anything. I mailed my best friend Kevin a recipe for peanut sauce the other day. Our communication with one another does not always need to be instantly gratifying!

So that's kind of the long version of what's been happening to me, through the lens of a 30+ year old book series. I hope the few people who happen across this blog in my corner of the internet have been kind to themselves during this trying time.