The Book of Flying

The Phantom Tollbooth, for adults.

Another absolute gem discovered on a Reddit comment with one upvote. It's an elegiac, sad, literary fantasy novel that still indulges and delights when it is given time. It's the cri de coeur of a passionate artist, for whom finding love becomes difficult when one is able to find love and delight in everything. Each of the nine or ten characters we meet has their own tragedy and vigor to them, and each of them are so easy to fall in love with. I expect everyone has met some of the characters in this novel before, or if not, will meet them soon. It's that kind of book.

I sometimes find more literary strains of fantasy pretentious and unnecessary, but this prose is more than readable, and has a wonderful rhythm and variety to it, from the bouncy alliterative beginning representing the naivete of the young Pico, to the sprawling and patient style of Narya's novel. Even more so, we get things like mouthwatering descriptions of food, a wonderfully enjoyable and ultimately bittersweet friendship arc, and several elegant romances.

The influences here are certainly more literary - Russian novels are felt strongly here, as is Calvino. These are both things I like, and I do worry about the universality of this book - but I'm perfectly happy to keep it to myself, as really nothing has tugged my heartstrings more this year.

10/10.