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The Book of Flying
When Pico falls in love with one of the winged people in the City by the Sea, the orphaned young librarian embarks on quest to find the mythical Morning Town, a magical place where those like him who are wingless may gain their wings, encountering a variety of unusual characters and learning valuable lessons about life, love, and determination along the way. A first novel.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 26, 2004
48 people are currently reading
5437 people want to read
About the author
Keith Miller
6 books206 followersKeith Miller (born 1969) is an American author who has written The Book of Flying, The Book on Fire, The Sins of Angels, and The Witch's Journey. Visit his website at www.millerworlds.com and his blog at www.millerworlds.blogspot.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 301 reviews
August 16, 2019
What might seem like a fairly straightforward quest involving Pico the librarian loving and losing his winged Sisi and going out on a quest to find his own wings or die trying quickly turns into one of the best Story-within-Story books I've read in a long time.
Why? Because he's a hopeless poet and a hapless adventurer. He's full of quirky stories told semi-inappropriately, falling in with bandits, having tea with minotaurs, and being lonely in young, vibrant crowds. Falling in love with literary and tightrope-walking whores. And a whole beautiful and disturbing section about eating. :) But more than all this, all the language is lyrical, poetical in instance, structure, and overarching plot.
It's about finally earning his wings.
And what the hell does that even mean? He doesn't know, either. The book is so damn sad and sweet and it pulls your soul apart. Every character is full of tragedy. Every character is full of love.
There's no way I can describe this without just telling you folks to READ IT. You'll know. Deep down. It's one of those works that speak to writers and deep readers of any caliber. The process of the discovery, the reveling in the imagination, the dark recesses, the loving ones, the sheer irrepressible dive into stories, stories, and more stories. How they define us, the stories we own, the stories we steal, the stories we give away, and the stories that are inherited, blown up, or die.
I can recommend this book forever and a day if that appeals to you at all.
And maybe, after much questing, you too can fly... if you can stomach the cost. :)
Why? Because he's a hopeless poet and a hapless adventurer. He's full of quirky stories told semi-inappropriately, falling in with bandits, having tea with minotaurs, and being lonely in young, vibrant crowds. Falling in love with literary and tightrope-walking whores. And a whole beautiful and disturbing section about eating. :) But more than all this, all the language is lyrical, poetical in instance, structure, and overarching plot.
It's about finally earning his wings.
And what the hell does that even mean? He doesn't know, either. The book is so damn sad and sweet and it pulls your soul apart. Every character is full of tragedy. Every character is full of love.
There's no way I can describe this without just telling you folks to READ IT. You'll know. Deep down. It's one of those works that speak to writers and deep readers of any caliber. The process of the discovery, the reveling in the imagination, the dark recesses, the loving ones, the sheer irrepressible dive into stories, stories, and more stories. How they define us, the stories we own, the stories we steal, the stories we give away, and the stories that are inherited, blown up, or die.
I can recommend this book forever and a day if that appeals to you at all.
And maybe, after much questing, you too can fly... if you can stomach the cost. :)
October 4, 2018
"Nothing equaled rereading a loved book." (166)
The moment I saw this little morsel of truth, I had to earmark it. In spite of how sparse a quote it is (compared to the other delicious passages I've marked), it made my heart leap with agreement, with understanding. I've read this book four times, one of those times aloud. I'm going to keep picking it up, over and over through the years, until I'm dead. I may yet be buried with it.
Nothing equals finding a book that, for you, deserves to be reread forever.
The first thing I have to say, with all the love in the world, is that this book is NOT for everyone. The plot is a traveling story, nearly a sequence of short stories, strung together with a common protagonist and a common direction. For some people, that reads as weak plot, but for me it reads as the way a long, arduous journey works: meeting people, exchanging moments in time, learning lessons, and then parting ways, sometimes never to see each other again. It's written almost like an epic poem, with heaps and heaps of flowery, alliterative language, so if you tend to get distracted from a story by highly-descriptive prose, you may not enjoy The Book of Flying. But the poetry of the story is vital, in my opinion, to really getting to know Pico, the protagonist:
"I am not a namer but a re-namer. In my art I arrive at the nature of a thing by calling it something else. The sky is the sea glittering with minnows caught in the nets of the rain, a flute at dusk is a lover's tongue in the ear, an eye is a talon, a cinder, a star." (77)
The boy is a hopeless poet, and so the narrative is written hopelessly poetically. It pulls you into his worldview, full of metaphor and alliteration and allegory--and full of sorrow.
This is another thing I see people disliking about this book: it's so damn sad. Every character has a tragic backstory of some kind or other, all of them have hurt and/or are hurt, and some truly crushing things happen to some very beloved people. Moreover, the characters--the whole book--celebrates sadness as being beautiful.
This is one of my favourite aspects of the book, though. Because everyone does have a tragic backstory in life, and everyone is hurt and hurting, and terrible things will happen to us all, in the end. Some folks read to escape those inevitabilities: I read to explore and understand them, to process them, to prepare for when they arrive in my own life. Far from being an overload of sadness, The Book of Flying is always there to remind me that there is a loveliness in being sad, that there is quiet merit in that emotion, and that being able to experience it--without wallowing--is a precious gift. When I first read this book I was about eleven years old, and I think it was one of the first things that gave me permission to be sad.
It's 90% dark chocolate: so bittersweet you can be forgiven for thinking it's bitter all the way through. But the sweetness is there.
Keith Miller taught me a lot of things in writing this book. He taught me that a reverence of reading and of books is as good a faith as any other; he taught me that the entire spectrum of human behaviour is beautiful, even the deeply unpleasant examples; he taught me to take pleasure in writing things that have a delicious mouthfeel, that read aloud so smooth and rich you can hardly keep up with the sounds your mouth is making. And the lessons multiply every time I read, because every time I'm a few years older, and I'm receptive to different aspects, different aphorisms.
If the book itself is to be believed, I haven't found my own personal Book of Flying yet:
"The Book of Flying may be read only once, from beginning to end, at the far side of a journey undertaken for love, on which death is tasted. You will read it or you will not. And though you say you have not read it yet you know it still. Look. Look deeper." (255)
...but it's on the shortlist. It's a stepping-stone. It's one of the literary compasses I have to direct me while I search.
The moment I saw this little morsel of truth, I had to earmark it. In spite of how sparse a quote it is (compared to the other delicious passages I've marked), it made my heart leap with agreement, with understanding. I've read this book four times, one of those times aloud. I'm going to keep picking it up, over and over through the years, until I'm dead. I may yet be buried with it.
Nothing equals finding a book that, for you, deserves to be reread forever.
The first thing I have to say, with all the love in the world, is that this book is NOT for everyone. The plot is a traveling story, nearly a sequence of short stories, strung together with a common protagonist and a common direction. For some people, that reads as weak plot, but for me it reads as the way a long, arduous journey works: meeting people, exchanging moments in time, learning lessons, and then parting ways, sometimes never to see each other again. It's written almost like an epic poem, with heaps and heaps of flowery, alliterative language, so if you tend to get distracted from a story by highly-descriptive prose, you may not enjoy The Book of Flying. But the poetry of the story is vital, in my opinion, to really getting to know Pico, the protagonist:
"I am not a namer but a re-namer. In my art I arrive at the nature of a thing by calling it something else. The sky is the sea glittering with minnows caught in the nets of the rain, a flute at dusk is a lover's tongue in the ear, an eye is a talon, a cinder, a star." (77)
The boy is a hopeless poet, and so the narrative is written hopelessly poetically. It pulls you into his worldview, full of metaphor and alliteration and allegory--and full of sorrow.
This is another thing I see people disliking about this book: it's so damn sad. Every character has a tragic backstory of some kind or other, all of them have hurt and/or are hurt, and some truly crushing things happen to some very beloved people. Moreover, the characters--the whole book--celebrates sadness as being beautiful.
This is one of my favourite aspects of the book, though. Because everyone does have a tragic backstory in life, and everyone is hurt and hurting, and terrible things will happen to us all, in the end. Some folks read to escape those inevitabilities: I read to explore and understand them, to process them, to prepare for when they arrive in my own life. Far from being an overload of sadness, The Book of Flying is always there to remind me that there is a loveliness in being sad, that there is quiet merit in that emotion, and that being able to experience it--without wallowing--is a precious gift. When I first read this book I was about eleven years old, and I think it was one of the first things that gave me permission to be sad.
It's 90% dark chocolate: so bittersweet you can be forgiven for thinking it's bitter all the way through. But the sweetness is there.
Keith Miller taught me a lot of things in writing this book. He taught me that a reverence of reading and of books is as good a faith as any other; he taught me that the entire spectrum of human behaviour is beautiful, even the deeply unpleasant examples; he taught me to take pleasure in writing things that have a delicious mouthfeel, that read aloud so smooth and rich you can hardly keep up with the sounds your mouth is making. And the lessons multiply every time I read, because every time I'm a few years older, and I'm receptive to different aspects, different aphorisms.
If the book itself is to be believed, I haven't found my own personal Book of Flying yet:
"The Book of Flying may be read only once, from beginning to end, at the far side of a journey undertaken for love, on which death is tasted. You will read it or you will not. And though you say you have not read it yet you know it still. Look. Look deeper." (255)
...but it's on the shortlist. It's a stepping-stone. It's one of the literary compasses I have to direct me while I search.
December 8, 2007
This is my new favorite book. I simply can't think of any book that compares to it. Strangely, I found a hard back version of the book for $1 at the local dollar store which is not a place you normally think you're going to find the book that you fall in love with.
The Book of Flying is an adult fairy tale about Pico, the only librarian in a city by the sea. Pico's parents both had wings, but he was born wingless. Unfortunately, he falls in love with a winged woman who tells him that she can't love him fully because he has no wings. This sets him out on a quest for The Book of Flying, a book that will teach him to fly. It is rumored to be far across the forest and desert in a crumbling tower in Morning Town. Along the way, he joins a band of thieves, meets a minotaur who is also a gourmet chef, finds a nearly perfect rainy city full of books and coffee shops, lives in a whore house, and avoids being consumed by an immortal cannibal ... among many other adventures.
This book is a book-lover's and food-lover's delight. Simple meals of trout fried with mushrooms and garnished with fennel and a whole lime tantalize your taste buds while the beautiful prose and occasional poetry of the book draw you deeply within its pages.
I always disliked other books about journeys in which all the characters ever did was walk and walk and walk and then sometimes engage in a fight or a war. This book is the type of journey I want to read about and wish I could be in. It would make an absolutely gorgeous movie.
The Book of Flying is an adult fairy tale about Pico, the only librarian in a city by the sea. Pico's parents both had wings, but he was born wingless. Unfortunately, he falls in love with a winged woman who tells him that she can't love him fully because he has no wings. This sets him out on a quest for The Book of Flying, a book that will teach him to fly. It is rumored to be far across the forest and desert in a crumbling tower in Morning Town. Along the way, he joins a band of thieves, meets a minotaur who is also a gourmet chef, finds a nearly perfect rainy city full of books and coffee shops, lives in a whore house, and avoids being consumed by an immortal cannibal ... among many other adventures.
This book is a book-lover's and food-lover's delight. Simple meals of trout fried with mushrooms and garnished with fennel and a whole lime tantalize your taste buds while the beautiful prose and occasional poetry of the book draw you deeply within its pages.
I always disliked other books about journeys in which all the characters ever did was walk and walk and walk and then sometimes engage in a fight or a war. This book is the type of journey I want to read about and wish I could be in. It would make an absolutely gorgeous movie.
December 17, 2016
When I picked this book up from the library and read the blurb I thought perhaps I had made a mistake. But the premise sounded interesting so I decided to give it a go.
Lots of things made me angry about this book but the thing that annoyed me most was how every woman Pico meets on his journey is described as being incredibly beautiful (except for the dwarf chef lady, who is hideously ugly), and the majority of them want to sleep with Pico, despite the fact that he lacks anything resembling a personality. This is my absolute pet peeve with male authors. Like you do realise that women aren't magically beautiful beings who exist solely for men's pleasure, right?? Most of us are ordinary looking people who don't want to sleep with every man we meet. Just a heads up.
The sex scenes and stories about various lovers were extremely disturbing, especially at the beginning of the book. Some of the scenes with Pico and Adevi bordered on sexual assault (which Pico was fine about because being raped by a ~beautiful woman~ is every man's dream, right?), there was reference to pedophilia, some horrifying cannibalism and a whole lot of other abusive relationships that made this book unpleasant to read. Also,
Secondly, the constant waxing lyrical about how art is degraded if you receive money for it (which seems kind of hypocritical, since I'm assuming the author got paid for this book) made me super angry. Art is a job. Artists deserve to get paid for their time and their skills. This book was pretentious, from the overwrought prose to the obsessive enshrining of books and words, to the elevation of romantic love above all else. And by the way, the desire to possess someone isn't love. I don't believe any of the characters in this book were actually in love with the object of their infatuation. If love makes you murder your beloved, you are not a tragic hero, you are a murderer and a shitty person.
Anyway, the moral of this story is: trust your instincts. Otherwise you'll find yourself reading something that is the embodiment of everything you hate in literature, and wishing you could erase the last two weeks of reading from your mind because what the fuck. What. the. fuck.
Lots of things made me angry about this book but the thing that annoyed me most was how every woman Pico meets on his journey is described as being incredibly beautiful (except for the dwarf chef lady, who is hideously ugly), and the majority of them want to sleep with Pico, despite the fact that he lacks anything resembling a personality. This is my absolute pet peeve with male authors. Like you do realise that women aren't magically beautiful beings who exist solely for men's pleasure, right?? Most of us are ordinary looking people who don't want to sleep with every man we meet. Just a heads up.
The sex scenes and stories about various lovers were extremely disturbing, especially at the beginning of the book. Some of the scenes with Pico and Adevi bordered on sexual assault (which Pico was fine about because being raped by a ~beautiful woman~ is every man's dream, right?), there was reference to pedophilia, some horrifying cannibalism and a whole lot of other abusive relationships that made this book unpleasant to read. Also,
Secondly, the constant waxing lyrical about how art is degraded if you receive money for it (which seems kind of hypocritical, since I'm assuming the author got paid for this book) made me super angry. Art is a job. Artists deserve to get paid for their time and their skills. This book was pretentious, from the overwrought prose to the obsessive enshrining of books and words, to the elevation of romantic love above all else. And by the way, the desire to possess someone isn't love. I don't believe any of the characters in this book were actually in love with the object of their infatuation. If love makes you murder your beloved, you are not a tragic hero, you are a murderer and a shitty person.
Anyway, the moral of this story is: trust your instincts. Otherwise you'll find yourself reading something that is the embodiment of everything you hate in literature, and wishing you could erase the last two weeks of reading from your mind because what the fuck. What. the. fuck.
October 15, 2025
The fact that a novel with such a spectacular opening, with such genuinely great potential, and with such beautiful things to say about the love of story could devolve into such an exploitatively oversexed and underdeveloped mess as this is truly baffling to me. Keith, I need you to be so serious right now.
| 1.5 stars |
| 1.5 stars |
May 1, 2017
Click here to watch a video featuring this book on my book channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
The Book of Flying is saturated with evocative appeal. It's beautifully written. Delectable. To be lured and held captive by its pages is a rapturous affair, like watching hot caramel drizzle over voluptuous scoops of vanilla ice cream.
A few well placed commas would have made for a slightly smoother read.
[Note: What is with Keith Miller's depiction of female characters? Buxom and dancing, topless and twirling, walking around town fully nude, naked and straddling this or straddling that, sex-craved maneaters, artists who practice their trade in the nude, unfaithful lovers, prostitutes. When Miller sat with his pen poised above the page, faced with infinite creative possibilities, was his view of women really so narrow? One minute I was oohing over the finesse of a particularly luscious sentence; the next I was rolling my eyes and vocalizing sounds of deep agitation.]
The Book of Flying is saturated with evocative appeal. It's beautifully written. Delectable. To be lured and held captive by its pages is a rapturous affair, like watching hot caramel drizzle over voluptuous scoops of vanilla ice cream.
A few well placed commas would have made for a slightly smoother read.
[Note: What is with Keith Miller's depiction of female characters? Buxom and dancing, topless and twirling, walking around town fully nude, naked and straddling this or straddling that, sex-craved maneaters, artists who practice their trade in the nude, unfaithful lovers, prostitutes. When Miller sat with his pen poised above the page, faced with infinite creative possibilities, was his view of women really so narrow? One minute I was oohing over the finesse of a particularly luscious sentence; the next I was rolling my eyes and vocalizing sounds of deep agitation.]
July 12, 2008
I wanted to really love this book, but the writing style bothered me a bit. There was so much alliteration it was distracting. Even so, I really liked the story. Or rather stories - it was more like a collection of short stories set within the framework of the character's quest. They have a lovely fantastical quality to them - some fantasy books draw you into the world so thoroughly that you feel like it's normal; this one keeps a sort of alien quality about it, which I like. The general aura of mythical-ness was probably my favorite aspect of this book.
September 24, 2012
I'm only a little more than halfway through this book but just wanted to say it's one of the best books I've read in a long time. This epic fairy tale is the perfect bedtime reading, full of beautiful, magical places and characters. Little Pico the poet/librarian is on a quest to find a town he's heard of where he can read the Book of Flying and get his wings so he can return home and be with his dream girl who, like his parents, was born with wings. In his travels he meets a band of thieves, a minotaur, a talking rabbit, a dream seller, a tightrope walker-turned-prostitute, and another hooker whose ghost mother roamed in search of milk for her as a baby. The beautiful descriptions are made even more poetic with repetitive sounds in the words, but not so much that it gets on my nerves. It's also a bit more adult than your average fairy tale with a lot of exposed boobs and a few sex scenes, plus ambiguous morality (Pico is generally a good guy but doesn't have a problem with associating with criminals). Don't buy this book for your kid.
Update: Finished! Beautiful, poetic, imaginative book! Loved it.
Update: Finished! Beautiful, poetic, imaginative book! Loved it.
September 17, 2010
It makes me sad that Miller is apparently such an unknown author when so much cruddier stuff like what Nicholas Sparks or Dan Brown or Stephenie Meyer throw out there is on best seller lists. This is really a brilliant little book. I was impressed from the first paragraph (which I immediately made Dan read). It's reminiscent of Marquez and the like---the strange dream-like quality, the characters whose emotions and actions don't quite seem human---too large or too small, but still reflective of being human. This is really a book of short stories in the context of an overarching story--bizarre and sometimes shocking stories, but always beautiful and observant. I can't quite give it five stars because it isn't the sort of book that gets me really invested in the characters, and I need that to truly love a book. But like I said, it isn't that kind of book, but it does its kind of thing right.
August 4, 2008
Simply the best book I have ever read. I found it several years ago in a little discount book store on the Jersey Shore, only a few dollars for a hard-back copy. Like almost everyone else, I picked it up for the cover and title alone, and was surprised to find probably the most amazingly written and unique piece of literature I've ever come across. I took it with me to Europe the week after I left New Jersey and spent probably more time reading it than looking at the beautiful Italian cities and countryside.
Honestly, it has been nearly impossible to finish anything after I read this. All other books just don't seem to compare to its lilting words or unusual characters. I am so thankful that I found it-- it is truly a work of art.
Honestly, it has been nearly impossible to finish anything after I read this. All other books just don't seem to compare to its lilting words or unusual characters. I am so thankful that I found it-- it is truly a work of art.
April 9, 2023
Miller’s use of alliteration and simile carried me along on a surprising melody in prose that reads like poetry. After reading a few paragraphs I became aware of the rhythm, but soon sunk back into the story He wastes no time in epic background stories; instead it only takes a few sentences to impart the story of Pico’s life to date and to appreciate his yearnings. So after only a few chapters I was off on a quest and an unparalleled adventure.
This is a coming of age fairytale for adults not children. There is sexual content but nothing explicit and Pico encounters many amoral situations, without blinking an eye. It must have been because he was so well read! ☺.
This is a coming of age fairytale for adults not children. There is sexual content but nothing explicit and Pico encounters many amoral situations, without blinking an eye. It must have been because he was so well read! ☺.
November 27, 2011
An aimless amalgam of alliteration obscures the storyline, as the artist's brush masks the pristine canvas with layers of azure, ochre, vermilion and lime, and creates a showcase for literary device, caging the budding narrative in a wash of winsome words.
As I read this novel, I was captivated by the first few paragraphs, but then annoyed by Miller's overuse of poetic devices. By mid-novel, he seemed to catch his stride and start developing his story, but even then over filled the pages with both beautiful and not-so-beautiful (or even appropriate)analogies, similes, alliterations and metaphors. In many ways this writing added to the mystical atmosphere of this fantasy for adults, and the reader is certainly drawn into the worlds created within, but it felt overdone and the language kept drawing me away from the story itself. Miller exhibited a true talent both as a writer and an artist, but I can't agree with others who found only beauty in his phraseology.
As a lover of books, I appreciated the librarian as hero and the pervasive reverence for books.
As I read this novel, I was captivated by the first few paragraphs, but then annoyed by Miller's overuse of poetic devices. By mid-novel, he seemed to catch his stride and start developing his story, but even then over filled the pages with both beautiful and not-so-beautiful (or even appropriate)analogies, similes, alliterations and metaphors. In many ways this writing added to the mystical atmosphere of this fantasy for adults, and the reader is certainly drawn into the worlds created within, but it felt overdone and the language kept drawing me away from the story itself. Miller exhibited a true talent both as a writer and an artist, but I can't agree with others who found only beauty in his phraseology.
As a lover of books, I appreciated the librarian as hero and the pervasive reverence for books.
January 15, 2022
One of the most poetic and unique book I have ever read.
This story is a combination of many things - many contrasting aspects. Whimsical yet meaningful. Innocent yet dark. Rich. With a plethora of weird and wonderful characters and some marvelous settings.
And there was no fairy-tale ending, but I felt the message of the story was the cultivation and growth of the self. Not looking outward to complete ourselves, but perhaps knowing that others can enter our life's story to motivate us onto new paths.
I will certainly look out for more of Keith Miller's works.
This story is a combination of many things - many contrasting aspects. Whimsical yet meaningful. Innocent yet dark. Rich. With a plethora of weird and wonderful characters and some marvelous settings.
And there was no fairy-tale ending, but I felt the message of the story was the cultivation and growth of the self. Not looking outward to complete ourselves, but perhaps knowing that others can enter our life's story to motivate us onto new paths.
I will certainly look out for more of Keith Miller's works.
May 25, 2022
This is a weird one for me to rate. It had it moments of adorable beauty and clever world building but on the other hand… it kind of felt like a bro-book.
What’s a bro book? (So glad you asked.) It’s where it feels like you are reading some dudes fantasy. 🙄 And instead of lassoing hearts, it kind of just feels icky (and take me out of the story).
TBH, this concept would have made an excellent novella.
What’s a bro book? (So glad you asked.) It’s where it feels like you are reading some dudes fantasy. 🙄 And instead of lassoing hearts, it kind of just feels icky (and take me out of the story).
TBH, this concept would have made an excellent novella.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2009
This is a strange book that I've found difficult to categorize. It's almost like a faerie tale the way faerie tales should be told - not everything turns out right; the prince doesn't always wake the princess from her eternal sleep, and the wicked witch doesn't always meet her justifiable end. People die in this book, and there is a lot of sex that is as far from the sanitized Disney-esque romance crap as one can get without actually becoming blatantly pornographic. The hero does things that classic heroes normally don't do, and there are a lot of questions of morality that normally don't come up in your everyday faerie tales.
And that's why I liked this book. It was like reading (?watching?) someone's mind while they were fully ensconced in a dream-state. The prose was at times lyrical and at times harsh, and there were moments when the hero (or rather protagonist, because there is little that could justify the main character to be lumped into the classical 'hero' category, save his unquenchable desire to gain his wings) seemed doomed to fail beyond all hope and measure.
While The Book of Flying may not be a book for children, or even for those who are in search of today's standard of fantasy story, I highly recommend that this book be read at least once, if only to see what goes into the making of a 'real' faerie tale. In today's Deluge-scale mass-market drivel, this book is far closer to a work of literary art than many of the so-called "best sellers".
And that's why I liked this book. It was like reading (?watching?) someone's mind while they were fully ensconced in a dream-state. The prose was at times lyrical and at times harsh, and there were moments when the hero (or rather protagonist, because there is little that could justify the main character to be lumped into the classical 'hero' category, save his unquenchable desire to gain his wings) seemed doomed to fail beyond all hope and measure.
While The Book of Flying may not be a book for children, or even for those who are in search of today's standard of fantasy story, I highly recommend that this book be read at least once, if only to see what goes into the making of a 'real' faerie tale. In today's Deluge-scale mass-market drivel, this book is far closer to a work of literary art than many of the so-called "best sellers".
February 25, 2013
Forget the plot, the writing in this book is sublime...like taking a long, warm bath. Rich prose and lovely world building - a strange little treat of a book.
Quote-able passage...
"His name is Pico. He is pale from days indoors, thin from forgetting to eat. He cares fastidiously for the library no one comes to, sweeping and mopping the floor, dusting the books with ostrich plumes, watering the irises that grow beside the door. He is vigilant against mice, silverfish, wary of fire. And he loves to read. He loves the whisper of the pages and the way his fingertips catch on rough paper, the pour of the words up from the leaves, through the soft light, into his eyes, the mute voice in his ears. He has read all the books, many several times, sitting at his mahogany desk in a corner of the room, the only sounds that of a bumblebee fumbling at the frescoes and the hiss of turning pages."
Quote-able passage...
"His name is Pico. He is pale from days indoors, thin from forgetting to eat. He cares fastidiously for the library no one comes to, sweeping and mopping the floor, dusting the books with ostrich plumes, watering the irises that grow beside the door. He is vigilant against mice, silverfish, wary of fire. And he loves to read. He loves the whisper of the pages and the way his fingertips catch on rough paper, the pour of the words up from the leaves, through the soft light, into his eyes, the mute voice in his ears. He has read all the books, many several times, sitting at his mahogany desk in a corner of the room, the only sounds that of a bumblebee fumbling at the frescoes and the hiss of turning pages."
March 4, 2013
The story has a dream-like quality, contributed by the use of the present tense in the narrative. This meshes well with the fairy tale nature of the story as well, with flying girls, a talking rabbit, a minotaur, a robber queen, and an immortal cannibal. But for all of the beautiful language through word choice and consonance, it isn't an enjoyable story. Perhaps it was written after a terrible breakup, because every single character hurts and is hurt, terminally in most cases, by the object of their love. Everything is about pain. While many truly enjoy the book, I don't want to read a book that oh-so-gently says, "Why, yes. You will hurt everyone you care about, and they will hurt you, until you destroy each other." In addition, the very simple structure and too loose narrative point out that it is a first novel by a writer who still has some work to do in his craft.
August 25, 2013
I think people love this book because the author's prose can be quite lovely, even transcendent. Yet Miller demonstrates several of my pet peeves: prose that gets quite purple at times (the alliteration can go especially overboard), the stock characters of the whores with hearts of gold (quite a few of them--about half the book's main characters), the journey made out of love for a character we never know (it doesn't get more tedious), and the faux-profundity achieved by killing off almost every, single, named character (plus a life of misery for the hero). I'm glad I read it for the sake of a few sentences; I'll give it an extra half star for that, for a grand total of 1 1/2 stars.
June 23, 2017
The story in theory is interesting - a guy on a quest meets odd characters, we get to hear their stories and see how they impact his. But man, this author is obsessed with breasts. Every female character is described in relation to her breasts. And unless there's some weird boob metaphor going over my head here, the breasts of these characters are not at all relevant to the story. Recommended only if you'd rather hear about breasts than the actual people they're attached to.
ETA: this is shelved as YA, but there's a woman fucking herself on a minotaur's horns, so, um, probably not actually YA?
ETA: this is shelved as YA, but there's a woman fucking herself on a minotaur's horns, so, um, probably not actually YA?
March 9, 2017
This book was incredibly important to me for a year of my life and I will always be grateful. I read the entire thing aloud to my friends in college and they were spellbound.
The writing is the most superb combination of prose and poetic language I have ever seen. It is a pleasure to read and to speak out loud. The characters are beloved and entrancing, the world beautiful and fascinating. It is a story about stories, an ode to journeys, dreams, love, and flight in every form.
I loved it so much. Read it. You won't be sorry.
The writing is the most superb combination of prose and poetic language I have ever seen. It is a pleasure to read and to speak out loud. The characters are beloved and entrancing, the world beautiful and fascinating. It is a story about stories, an ode to journeys, dreams, love, and flight in every form.
I loved it so much. Read it. You won't be sorry.
January 21, 2022
auto recommending this book to anyone regardless of book status or taste! :,D
grabeeh! to start my year with such an adventure! wow! This is it! the stuff books are made of! The kind of stories that rekindle, reaffirm my love for reading.
ThankYou Lei for lending me this gem of a book. The story of Pico lingers in my heart and yes it did wreck me too! (some literal loud reacts in some chapters in the middle of the night becoz yes plot twists and some trigger warnings but still, no i cant stop reading…!)
this book is totally worth ur time and feelings invested. READ it and Fly! 🪶✨
grabeeh! to start my year with such an adventure! wow! This is it! the stuff books are made of! The kind of stories that rekindle, reaffirm my love for reading.
ThankYou Lei for lending me this gem of a book. The story of Pico lingers in my heart and yes it did wreck me too! (some literal loud reacts in some chapters in the middle of the night becoz yes plot twists and some trigger warnings but still, no i cant stop reading…!)
this book is totally worth ur time and feelings invested. READ it and Fly! 🪶✨
July 24, 2020
DNFing at little more than 50% because I couldn't keep going after reading this disgusting line in a paragraph describing "the whores of the house" (trigger warning: sexualization of children): "children whose breasts had only just begun to nibble at their blouses (...)"
If you read all the 1 star reviews, they are full of women with similar concerns.
If you read all the 1 star reviews, they are full of women with similar concerns.
August 15, 2016
Unlike any other reading experience I've had before.
December 18, 2011
Meet Pico, a librarian in a magical world of winged men and humans:
"He is pale from days indoors, thin from forgetting to eat. He cares fastidiously for the library no one comes to, sweeping and mopping the floor, dusting the books with ostrich plumes, watering the irises that grow beside the door. He is vigilant against mice, silverfish, wary of fire. And he loves to read. He loves the whisper of the pages and the way his fingertips catch on rough paper, the pour of the words up from the leaves, through the soft light, into his eyes the mute voice in his ears." (5)
Pico is in love. But it is a tragic love, as the young girl is one of the winged folk and winged folks are not allowed to be with the humans. Devastated, Pico mourns. And them, one unsuspecting day, he finds a note by a librarian years before him who was also in the same predicament. He is to journey to the other side of the forrest to find his wings as the secret lies in The Book of Flying. Packing up a few books and some food, he is off.
The journey is the story. Pico meets many interesting individuals along the way and hears their stories. Each one is unique and has a special tale of tragedy, survival, and hope. Adevi, thief of the forest, finds companionship in Pico that she didn't expect. She teaches him the ways of thieving and joins his journey to the other side of the forest. Their destination leads to a bridge, protected by Balquo, a mixed creature of human and animal, shunned by his village. Balquo must fight any individual who attempts to cross. Adevi and Pico break to hear his story and decide to stay for a while.
Perhaps, one of my favorite stories that Pico hears is when he stumbles into this art community on the outskirts of the woods. He befriends a prostitute and ends up living in the whorehouse for some months. The community reminded me of the city of Asheville, NC with the lifestyle of Woodstock. The days and nights are spent in dance, art, poetry, drinking, and various other forms of gluttony. There is, of course, a price to pay to remain in the city which is as devastating as one would expect.
The Book of Flying is a beautiful book. I cannot emphasize enough how magical the journey. The writing will leave you breathless. I generally don't end posts with a bunch of quotes from the book, but I just have to share a few because they are so profound.
"Look, poet, love is never what we think it will be. Love is like a boy trying to rescue a drowned girl from the sea and falling in himself."
"Yes, but what a beautiful death. Oh I wish I had drowned. I wish I had drowned."
"Love is two blind people sword-fighting, love is a queen on a desert island, love is a self-immolation, love is running scared in the dark, love is two people each of whose saliva is poison for the other, love is an empty house, a sunken boat, a crippled dancer." (40)
"It may seem an easy task to disregard a secret but secrets are like splinters beneath the flesh, the infection spreads and spreads and then the limb turns gangrenous and must be sawn away, all for the sake of a sliver of wood. " (57)
"If one falls in love with a butterfly and it enters a cocoon and emerges a caterpillar has one an obligation to continue loving that creature?" (133)
"She pulled away and sat up, hands to her cheeks. Diamonds on her fingertips. 'Pico,' she said in her corroded voice, ' Pico, do you ever feel there is some other way, long ago or somewhere else? Why do certain pieces of music move us so, all of us? Certain colors? As if these were stones from an earlie city, passed hand to hand across the generations so now they're polished and rounded as river stones and yet have lost none of their weight. I feel we're trying to find a story, like treasure buried beneath our city, and all the feeble stories we live are patterned after that pristine story whose shape we almost know. Sometimes just after I wake or before I make love I'll think, This is the story, I'm living the story. But the world always rushes in with its clash and anguish. Can you hear me, Pico? These are dangerous words for me, they make me feel more naked than when I spread my legs for a stranger." (170)
"He is pale from days indoors, thin from forgetting to eat. He cares fastidiously for the library no one comes to, sweeping and mopping the floor, dusting the books with ostrich plumes, watering the irises that grow beside the door. He is vigilant against mice, silverfish, wary of fire. And he loves to read. He loves the whisper of the pages and the way his fingertips catch on rough paper, the pour of the words up from the leaves, through the soft light, into his eyes the mute voice in his ears." (5)
Pico is in love. But it is a tragic love, as the young girl is one of the winged folk and winged folks are not allowed to be with the humans. Devastated, Pico mourns. And them, one unsuspecting day, he finds a note by a librarian years before him who was also in the same predicament. He is to journey to the other side of the forrest to find his wings as the secret lies in The Book of Flying. Packing up a few books and some food, he is off.
The journey is the story. Pico meets many interesting individuals along the way and hears their stories. Each one is unique and has a special tale of tragedy, survival, and hope. Adevi, thief of the forest, finds companionship in Pico that she didn't expect. She teaches him the ways of thieving and joins his journey to the other side of the forest. Their destination leads to a bridge, protected by Balquo, a mixed creature of human and animal, shunned by his village. Balquo must fight any individual who attempts to cross. Adevi and Pico break to hear his story and decide to stay for a while.
Perhaps, one of my favorite stories that Pico hears is when he stumbles into this art community on the outskirts of the woods. He befriends a prostitute and ends up living in the whorehouse for some months. The community reminded me of the city of Asheville, NC with the lifestyle of Woodstock. The days and nights are spent in dance, art, poetry, drinking, and various other forms of gluttony. There is, of course, a price to pay to remain in the city which is as devastating as one would expect.
The Book of Flying is a beautiful book. I cannot emphasize enough how magical the journey. The writing will leave you breathless. I generally don't end posts with a bunch of quotes from the book, but I just have to share a few because they are so profound.
"Look, poet, love is never what we think it will be. Love is like a boy trying to rescue a drowned girl from the sea and falling in himself."
"Yes, but what a beautiful death. Oh I wish I had drowned. I wish I had drowned."
"Love is two blind people sword-fighting, love is a queen on a desert island, love is a self-immolation, love is running scared in the dark, love is two people each of whose saliva is poison for the other, love is an empty house, a sunken boat, a crippled dancer." (40)
"It may seem an easy task to disregard a secret but secrets are like splinters beneath the flesh, the infection spreads and spreads and then the limb turns gangrenous and must be sawn away, all for the sake of a sliver of wood. " (57)
"If one falls in love with a butterfly and it enters a cocoon and emerges a caterpillar has one an obligation to continue loving that creature?" (133)
"She pulled away and sat up, hands to her cheeks. Diamonds on her fingertips. 'Pico,' she said in her corroded voice, ' Pico, do you ever feel there is some other way, long ago or somewhere else? Why do certain pieces of music move us so, all of us? Certain colors? As if these were stones from an earlie city, passed hand to hand across the generations so now they're polished and rounded as river stones and yet have lost none of their weight. I feel we're trying to find a story, like treasure buried beneath our city, and all the feeble stories we live are patterned after that pristine story whose shape we almost know. Sometimes just after I wake or before I make love I'll think, This is the story, I'm living the story. But the world always rushes in with its clash and anguish. Can you hear me, Pico? These are dangerous words for me, they make me feel more naked than when I spread my legs for a stranger." (170)
August 8, 2008
Just came back from the Woodstock Library Book Group, of nine women, five were amazed, four admitted Anita Bookner as their favorite author and hated, strongly despised The Book. The two professional authors, that's me and an University professor, were swept away by the concept, the symbology, the magic realism, the metaphors, the STORY! and Master Rabbit. The only Fantasy reader felt it needed a good editing - if Riverhead Press cannot edit, I ask you who can? I am going to buy this book, and one for my daughter, with my Powell's gift card. I must have it even though I have too many books now, what's one more written by a poetic linguistic acrobat? The imagery reminded me of 'Ashes and Snow' the stunning art installation of two summers ago - I saw it in an abandoned Hudson River pier. It's on the web, look at it, then know The Book of Flying. A 21st century Gulliver's Travels, with a light touch. So here's one other mysterious things about the book: there's no web trail of the author. And the brief bio sounds like it continues the fantasy. So my theory, totally intuitive and right brained like the novel, is that this author is a woman, perhaps Islamic, perhaps African, perhaps both. The sensibility is beautiful, the verbs evoke sighs of pleasure, the aphorisms are so good they seem familar. Who is Keith Miller, and when can I read the next book? Signed - not a fantasy reader.
August 6, 2024
What possessed me to finally review my favorite book?
The first time I had picked up, "The Book of Flying" was as a bright-eyed freshman in Spanish class. The best part of the day was our designated Silent Sustained Reading time, and I had forgotten to bring my usual mishmash of 90s horror. Well... "The Book of Flying" was the only book in English left sitting on Señora Richardson's bookshelf and so that I chose. I hunkered down for that 15 min of SSR, mind blown open, but not yet fully knowing of the awaiting adventure that would influence my current career.
Now, I wouldn't say that this title is particularly appropriate for a 14-year-old or that I had really been able to soak up the present themes. I just really enjoyed the poetic prose and the fact that I'd never read anything like it before. I read and re-read it a few times that year. As the school year came to a close, I contemplated stealing the book but after some back and forth with my juvenile conscience...I decided that if it was meant to be mine, the book would find me.
And that it did.
In many a used bookstore, library and the ever-present Bezos store. I give the book out to friends and then it somehow makes its way back to me, a boomerang commanded by the cosmos (okay I won't go there).
Here we are, 15 years post embarking on Pico's journey and The Book of Flying still has my heart's top literary spot.
Now that I think about it, maybe it's time I head to my own Morning Town.
The first time I had picked up, "The Book of Flying" was as a bright-eyed freshman in Spanish class. The best part of the day was our designated Silent Sustained Reading time, and I had forgotten to bring my usual mishmash of 90s horror. Well... "The Book of Flying" was the only book in English left sitting on Señora Richardson's bookshelf and so that I chose. I hunkered down for that 15 min of SSR, mind blown open, but not yet fully knowing of the awaiting adventure that would influence my current career.
Now, I wouldn't say that this title is particularly appropriate for a 14-year-old or that I had really been able to soak up the present themes. I just really enjoyed the poetic prose and the fact that I'd never read anything like it before. I read and re-read it a few times that year. As the school year came to a close, I contemplated stealing the book but after some back and forth with my juvenile conscience...I decided that if it was meant to be mine, the book would find me.
And that it did.
In many a used bookstore, library and the ever-present Bezos store. I give the book out to friends and then it somehow makes its way back to me, a boomerang commanded by the cosmos (okay I won't go there).
Here we are, 15 years post embarking on Pico's journey and The Book of Flying still has my heart's top literary spot.
Now that I think about it, maybe it's time I head to my own Morning Town.
November 13, 2014
The premise of the book was really interesting and I actually found the book from Goodreads. The book is written in a Shakespearian manner and thus in some cases it is hard to follow. The poems and stories are wonderful and the whole book can be described as elegant.
Sadly so the main character is detestable and plain dumb. The problem is that we don't know his age (among other things) - only that he's a librarian. Also, he has read all the books in the library and is a poet, but is utterly naive and stupid (how did he not manage to learn anything from the books is a mystery). He for example declares his love for a winged girl for whom he does everything - then he has sex with every female character in the book and still speaks of "true love". There are other weird parts too that don't make any sense and have no meaning in the story.
The first half of the book is a mess, though it gets better towards the end. The ending itself is great and something you wouldn't expect. Pico's character lacks everything and he is like a paper doll without any attributes. There's no reason for him to be a librarian either - he could have been anything. I wanted to like this, but I just can't. The stars are for the ending, poems and stories.
Sadly so the main character is detestable and plain dumb. The problem is that we don't know his age (among other things) - only that he's a librarian. Also, he has read all the books in the library and is a poet, but is utterly naive and stupid (how did he not manage to learn anything from the books is a mystery). He for example declares his love for a winged girl for whom he does everything - then he has sex with every female character in the book and still speaks of "true love". There are other weird parts too that don't make any sense and have no meaning in the story.
The first half of the book is a mess, though it gets better towards the end. The ending itself is great and something you wouldn't expect. Pico's character lacks everything and he is like a paper doll without any attributes. There's no reason for him to be a librarian either - he could have been anything. I wanted to like this, but I just can't. The stars are for the ending, poems and stories.
February 9, 2012
Okay, so I won't write too many reviews... I like to read from so many different subjects and know that what I like might not be for anyone else. Books to me come in different weights, there really is no better description that I can use. Loved Harry Potter, very imaginative and kept me turning the pages. Liked Stephen King's the Stand as well, however this book caught me by suprise.
To sum up this book in one word... insidious. It's such a dense read and yet so wildly imaginative you'd feel like calling it fluff if it just wasn't so weighty. I honestly felt like I took a life-long journey while reading this book and came out the other side profoundly changed.
Highly recommend having coffee or tea while reading this, maybe wine, bread, and cheese in parts as well.
This is a book that I own and DO NOT lend out. I actuall bought a paperback just for lending as I didn't want to lose my copy.
ML
To sum up this book in one word... insidious. It's such a dense read and yet so wildly imaginative you'd feel like calling it fluff if it just wasn't so weighty. I honestly felt like I took a life-long journey while reading this book and came out the other side profoundly changed.
Highly recommend having coffee or tea while reading this, maybe wine, bread, and cheese in parts as well.
This is a book that I own and DO NOT lend out. I actuall bought a paperback just for lending as I didn't want to lose my copy.
ML
December 22, 2018
Beautifully heartbreaking, and beautifully hopeful.
I get picky when prose gets poetic. I find that I lean towards functional first - to read what a story says - before I can begin to appreciate how a story sounds. Miller manages to write a fantastically gorgeous journey of love and solitude by 'renaming': he "arrive[s] at the nature of a thing by calling it something else." And it is wonderful.
Pico (a librarian who loves stories), goes on a great quest: to gain his wings and therefore the heart of his true love. The journey is episodically charming, terrifying, destructive, peaceful, odd and harrowing. It is filled with sad yearning and grand fulfillments and unexpected consequences.
It is lovely. It is sad. It is worth the trip.
I get picky when prose gets poetic. I find that I lean towards functional first - to read what a story says - before I can begin to appreciate how a story sounds. Miller manages to write a fantastically gorgeous journey of love and solitude by 'renaming': he "arrive[s] at the nature of a thing by calling it something else." And it is wonderful.
Pico (a librarian who loves stories), goes on a great quest: to gain his wings and therefore the heart of his true love. The journey is episodically charming, terrifying, destructive, peaceful, odd and harrowing. It is filled with sad yearning and grand fulfillments and unexpected consequences.
It is lovely. It is sad. It is worth the trip.
October 25, 2019
4 1/2 stars. I hate to use this term, but it fits it best, dream-like, to describe the writing and the flow of this story. There is a softness to it and a blurry edge like a dream but the subject matter is not always sweet. Beautiful language and beautiful stories that make a modern fairy tale. There is sadness and tragedy but also lessons of perseverance, hope, and love that makes life worth living.
Read it for wonder and adventure but reread it for the beauty and things you can learn.
Read it for wonder and adventure but reread it for the beauty and things you can learn.
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