Review: The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris

Shh, whatever you do, don't mention him. You know, him. No, not Lord Voldemort, that other guy. He's real. You know the one.

Now that we've got that out of the way, can I just say that The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris is brilliant?

The story of the trickster god, told through the eyes and voice of Loki, Harris's book takes us from the story of how the worlds were formed to the final battle of the gods and their destruction. In between are tales of Loki's exploits as one of the gods of Asgard, all winding their way slowly to the gripping conclusion.

The stories told in this book may be familiar to some, although I didn't read any Norse myths when I was younger. The scant knowledge I have comes from that person we're not mentioning, who was in those things we're also not going to mention.

As familiar as the stories may be, the way they're told is very, very different, and very distinctive. From the moment I started reading The Gospel of Loki I was hooked, and that was because I could hear the voice of Harris's Loki in my head. In this book, the method of telling is almost as important as the telling itself. Harris combines Norse terms with much more modern language, takes the myths and injects humour and sarcasm into them. Her Loki could come up to you today and have a conversation with you, and you'd think he'd lived in the 21st century all his life (apart from his appearance). The way Harris uses language is utterly compelling - I can't remember the last time I read a character whose voice I so easily heard.

The Gospel of Loki is split into books, with each an insight into a different arc of Loki's life. Within each book are lessons, rather than chapters, with Loki extolling on a particular subject or incident. The approach works well, as each lesson starts with a title and the lesson itself before launching into the narrative i.e. Book One, Lesson Seven: Hair and beauty, never trust a lover. Those titles also hint at the humour within - I was surprised by just how funny The Gospel of Loki was, despite the tragedies it contained. It was fun to read and I found myself chuckling throughout, just because Loki is a very funny character.

Covering as it does the Norse myths, The Gospel of Loki features many, many characters. Helpfully, there is a guide to them at the front of the book, with descriptions by Loki, who hates them nearly all of them. I felt the same. Loki might be mischievous, and heartless, and selfish, but the rest of the gods, from Thor to Sif to Odin are even worse. Of course, we only see them through Loki's eyes, so we're biased, but you can't help but love Loki and dislike everyone he dislikes. It would be disloyal otherwise.

The Gospel of Loki is a brilliant (as mentioned before), clever novel. This novel has been percolating in Harris's mind for almost 40 years, and I'm pleased to say, it was well worth that time.

How I got this book: From the publisher, Gollancz. This did not affect my review.

My week in books (#12)

My week in books is a feature where I share things I've found interesting from the past week that concern books, literature and all things book blogging. - See more at: http://girlreporter.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=my+week+in+books&max-results=20&by-date=true#sthash.MjqfjZq9.dpuf

My week in books is a feature where I share things I've found interesting from the past week (usually) that concern books, literature and all things book blogging.

I haven't done one of these in a while, so I've been saving up the links for a while.

I'm pretty obsessed with cookbooks. They're just so pretty and full of yummy recipes. To celebrate their newest release, Penguin came up with a quiz here, where you can find out which (Penguin) celebrity chef you are. I'm a Jamie Oliver (I wanted to be Mary Berry or Nigel Slater), let me know who you get.

I loved this Buzzfeed post about the places you need to read in, although I'm not sure what my favourite is.

I've recently acquired a couple of books by Jon Rance, and this piece he wrote about creating female characters is a brief and interesting insight into the process.

I've forgotten if I've linked to this post from The Stylist before, but who cares? It's the 100 best last lines from books, and you can create your own lists as well.

Here's a great article from The Guardian about Edgar Allen Poe and how he's been dividing readers for centuries.

A lot of people are taking part in NaNoWriMo at the moment, so these top 10 tips on writing from legendary crime writer PD James may prove useful.

The Fiction Dreams blog has a great interview here with Joanne Harris, who is one of my favourite authors. I'm very excited about her new work, which is a retelling of Norse myths through the eyes of Loki, who I'm obsessed with (okay, maybe I just like Tom Hiddleston).

For Books' Sake has a piece here about Mills and Boon, which I thought was a great read. I'm still not sure I'll be reading any Mills and Boon in the future though.

And finally, I've had this link open on my browser for months. For those of you into crafts, you can learn how to make your own funky monster bookmarks. They're really easy, and if you want to do something more grown up you can adapt the design by taking away the eyes and teeth and using different types of paper. I've made quite a few, and they're a hit.

Top Ten Tuesday (#1) - Top Ten Favorite Books I Read Before I Was A Blogger

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish, where the writers, like me, are particularly fond of lists.

This week's topic is... Top Ten Favorite Books I Read Before I Was A Blogger. I can guarantee that after this list is published I will think of ten other favourite books I should have mentioned (and then ten more and then ten more), but such is the life of the reading obsessed.

So, in no particular order, here are ten of my favourite books spanning different periods in my life, but all from before I started blogging...

1. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
I read this over and over when I was younger, and my copy is pretty well worn. I sort of grew up with Anne, every time I read it I was a little bit older, and could therefore relate a little bit more to the feelings she was going through as she got older.

2. The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Another one I read a lot when I was younger. I sort of share a name with the protagonist, and I loved that she was in some ways a very modern 21st century female, despite the time this book is set in and the time it was written in - Sara is strong, hard working, she's independent, she's fierce.

3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A second one by the same author (and one I read lots and lots and lots as a child, check out the spine of my copy in the picture below!). Even though it took me ages to learn how to read the Yorkshire dialect, I still loved this book almost immediately. I'm not very green fingered, but if I could, I would create a secret garden like the one Mary, Dickon and Colin create.

4. The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
I'll count these all as one. Although some of the later books in the series could have done with a bit of editing, Rowling created a fantastic world with this series, one with very few holes in it and one that I can immerse myself in completely whenever I open the novels.

5. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
I like to describe Stardust as a fairytale for adults whenever I tell people about it. Gaiman is a wonderful writer, effortlessly combining all sorts of worlds - from Victoriana to the supernatural to modern England - to create his own world. (By the way, whoever has my copy of this really needs to give it back.)

6. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
This book had me gripped from beginning to end. Although I had my suspicions about where it was going, Shriver writes so well that it was only pages before the big reveal that I guessed exactly what was about to occur, and even then I read the coming scenes in a mix of astonishment and horror and dismay. We Need to Talk About Kevin is a thought-provoking novel, and I still find myself thinking over the issues it raises every now and then.

7. Gentlemen & Players by Joanne Harris
My introduction to Harris started with Chocolat (after I watched the film) and has most recently encompassed blueeyedboy, but my absolute favourite book of hers is Gentlemen & Players, the ending of which took me completely by surprise.

8. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
This book was not what I was expecting at all, but it's haunting and beautiful and utterly magnificent.

9. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
I read Tartt's The Little Friend first, and didn't get on too well with it. Luckily, I perservered and started The Secret History, which I found dark and fascinating, and worthy of being called a modern classic.

10. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
It was a toss up between this, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby as to the literary classic that should go on my list, but Wuthering Heights won out because it's full of romance and suspense and tragedy, and I wish it would end differently each time I finish it, even though I know it won't.

So that's my ten (I can only find eight to picture, and didn't want to put all the Harry Potters in), what's in yours?