Bridge of Birds
📚 Finished reading: Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
I finished this remarkable little book on 七夕 Qixi, or Tanabata, the 7th of July, which felt like one of those strange serendipities where you feel maybe the universe is talking to you. It’s hard to explain the serendipity exactly without giving away too much about the book, but suffice it to say that the myth behind Qixi plays an unexpected and important role.
The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox is one of those series that’s been in my library for years, and I just never got round to reading till now. I went in frankly not knowing what to expect and emerged feeling like I’d just been on a wild and extraordinary journey, but one which I would be profoundly hard-pressed to describe to anyone else.
You just have to read the book. It reminded me of Discworld and The Princess Bride at the same time, with a huge dollop of Journey To The West, a combination which sounds nuts but which, somehow, really works. It was irreverent and hilarious and deeply moving by the end. I started out wondering if I’d like Bridge of Birds enough to go on to the next two in the series, since I really had no idea where this book was going. In the end, the minute I finished, I immediately started The Story of the Stone, once I’d put down the book for long enough to marinate in feelings and marvel at the tiny miracle of having read it on Tanabata.