“In both novels I’ve written there’s been one character who has turned up and said to me, ‘It’s OK. Relax. I’ve got this.’ In Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell it was Childermass. Whenever he appeared in a scene I felt like he pulled up a chair for me to sit down, made me a cup of tea, and told me he would handle everything. And then he pretty much wrote the scene for me. I loved Childermass. (I still do.) In Piranesi there was a character a little bit like that, but he was a very different person from Childermass and I didn’t exactly love him. It was the Prophet. When the Prophet appeared he waved me airily aside and then just wrote his own dialogue. I had to type really fast to keep up. And when he had finished, he looked round and smiled, like he was saying, ‘That’s the way it’s done.’ And then he strutted off.”
Some art for the book Piranesi by Susanna Clarke I did ages ago for @prose-n-scripts (she did some sexy as hell art for it here pls check it out its so gorgeous)
Birds are not difficult to understand. Their behaviour tells me what they are thinking. Generally it runs along the lines of: Is this food? Is this? What about this? This might be food. I am almost certain that this is. Or occasionally: It is raining. I do not like it.
Found a 2016 drawing I did of my favourite books, way before I considered doing commissions of these.
I’m happy to see how many books I’ve read since then that have made it into my current faves and how a re-read can make you remember how great something is, a good reminder that your next book could always be the best one you’ve read!
Also, most of those old faves would still be in contention.
Also, how is The Goldfinch still Donna Tartt’s most recent novel?
I’ve been in a reading frenzy this past month, here’s what I’ve actually finished.
Piranesi is the most recent book I’ve read, and I’ve got the biggest book hangover now. Review coming soon, cannot recommended it enough. Drop you current reads and recommendations, cozy book season has officially begun.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carceri d'Invenzione, 1749, etching and sulphur tint. This etching is a part of a series of invented prisons, which include torture instruments, wandering lost prisoners and a surreal illusionistic depictions of architectural space. In such dramatic imaginative scenes as this it is not difficult to forget that Piranesi started his training as a theatrical stage designer.
Roughs for a portfolio project. Insofar as I know there is no plan to develop Piranesi into a graphic novel, but I have some cool ideas for if they ever did.
It was a wonderful Yuletide this year, with an extra special bounty!
First, just before Christmas, I got news that KeeperofSeeds had created an amazing podfic of my past Yuletide story in the Peter Pan fandom, “No Unworthy Aim.” It’s a story of how Wendy and Hook might have met later, in the hospitals of WWI. Check out the podfic (and cover art!) here.
Finally, I wrote a fic for Jenett based on Susanna Clarke’s new book, Piranesi. I’m honestly really proud of this fic (… despite the fact that it’s technically a default, thanks to a death in the family a few days before the due date). The book is absolutely glorious — read it, if you haven’t yet! — and deals with subjects of memory and history and created realities. It was one of those fandoms where the original source is so perfect and self-contained that I didn’t want to just provide more of the same. So I created an original character and gave her a very different lens on the worldbuilding of the book, and I interlaced it with real academic quotations about history and loss, and I’m really happy with the response that it’s gotten. Read it here: “A Dreaming Art.”
The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
I finally read Piranesi! I first started reading this book in 2021, but I just could not get into it. It just felt like I was forcing myself to get past the first few pages, and so I decided to leave it to one side for a bit.
I recently re-visited it again, after being encouraged by my friend to do so, and I am so glad I did, because this time, I loved it! I took my time with the story, letting Piranesi guide me through the house, as he discovers more about its inhabitants, and how they came to be there. It is truly a strange but fascinating tale of one man and his relationship with the place he inhabits.
The prose is charming, and while I initially found it to meander quite a bit, as I got comfortable with the writing style, I did find that it suited the story it was a part of. It reminded me a bit of Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun both in terms of the way the writing flowed, and in the way Klara and Piranesi viewed the world around them. There is a marriage of joy and melencoly to both their stories, which I found to be quite beautifully done.
The character of Piranesi is so easy to fall in love with. He sweet, curious, and so at peace with himself, and so open to learning and discovering the world around him. There is a lot we could learn from him.
“One of the statues that lined the Wall of the Staircase was all but engulfed in a blue-black carapace of mussels with only half a staring Face and one white, out-flung Arm left free.”
Roughs for a portfolio project. Insofar as I know there is no plan to develop Piranesi into a graphic novel, but I have some cool ideas for if they ever did.
If I leave, then the House will have no Inhabitant and how will I bear the thought of it Empty?” ― Susanna Clarke, Piranesi
To my surprise, the book is completely different from what I thought it was going to be. I think all the posts I’ve seen never mentioned what it was about. Strange enough, I do love the narrator’s odd behaviours and obsession with over-collecting data in the place he inhabits. Like everyone else, I found the first few pages confusing but then got the hang of what was happening by the end of it. I’ve read a few reviews of my friends just to see their thoughts. I’ll start reading the second chapter tonight after I finish everything for today!
Oh and I’ve been watching the film Mary Shelley but I haven’t finished it, so that’s also on my to-do list. It, somehow, fits perfectly with this book.
