Encyclopaedia Of Snow

by Sarah Emily Miano

A lost notebook is discovered, its pages filled with an array of entries about snow. Leafing through each item in turn, it becomes apparent that the selection is not as haphazard as first glances might suggest. Scientific description, historical accounts and fantastical incidents slowly, teasingly unfold to reveal a series of love-stories, at the heart of which is one particular story -- a story that twists and threads through the various excerpts and extracts to form a letter to an absent lover. 'Glints with myth and magic ...bold and exhilarating' Observer 'All the delicacy of an intricate piece of ice sculpture ...The effect of the different entries swirling and spiraling is kaleidoscopic' Sunday Telegraph

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

270 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Cecily · Rating 4 out of 5]

An alphabetical list of entries, though you can actually read it in any order - a non-sequential novel, though novel is hardly the word. Some entries are related to snow, but duality and alchemy are major themes too. Gradually, threads linking some of the entries become evident, especially the longer ones. Self consciously clever and beautiful.

[Annerlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the idea, but the delivery was disappointing. A few encyclopaedic entries were excellent (streamers, ice and wink and whistle stand out in my memory) but most were mediocre. I was expecting cleverly crafted connections and found only lacklustre fragments. Maybe I m missing something...

[Kyara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een heel vreemd boek, iets wat niet snel nagedaan zal worden. Het was minder “meta” dan ik dacht, tot het einde. Alles lijkt samen te hangen en tegelijk is geen enkel verband echt duidelijk.

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Páči sa mi forma tejto knihy - citáty, celé state z diel známych aj menej známych autorov, či spomienky(?), ktoré sú zoradené ako útržky v zápisníku, alebo ako heslá z encyklopédie abecedne... Aj som si ju nakoniec kúpila. Je zvláštna a upútala ma.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on a trans-atlantic flight from Finland, after 5 days straight on the Trans-Siberian. This book is completely insane and so am I.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am still not sure how I feel about this book. I didn’t really get it until the epilogue.

I read it with two bookmarks, one marking where I was up to in the book, the other I followed the directions in the book. It was a bit disjointed but you can see that there are linkages between the stories, particularly the longer ones.

In the end I felt it was a bit too experimental for me.

[Tracy Smyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure about this book. Even though I have finished it I’m not sure I have understood it

[mairywo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've loved winter and especially snow for as long as I can remember. And unconsciously I've waited for a book like this my whole life. It was one of those lucky purchases, I only bought it because of the title and the cover.[return]The whole book is a mosaic of poetic and philosophical stories, myths and scientific tidbits. A mosaic, just like life with and in the snow is to me. Snow in all its forms, be it on a sunny day in the mountains or during a harsh blizzard.[return]The thread that holds all the stories together is the snow and after a while one story sticks out as it is repeated in many different forms. Told from different perspectives and recounted at different points in time. It's a desperate and hopeless love story, yet it fills you with warmth. It also always circles around the same topic of ice, coldness and snow.[return]I simply love this book and I'm sure I'll discover more things the next time I read it.

[Alastair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an unsual and interesting book, and yet because of its novel treatment, it doesn't seem to quite hold together. It is made up of stories, fragments, quotes, footnotes ... the concept is certainly appealing, and Miano's stories, when she gets round to them, have a fantastic yet sedate style which reminded me of John Berger’s “Into Their Labours” ... but as a whole the books leaves the reader wondering what they have just read, and perhaps not really understanding why the book has been constructed thus. Nevertheless, it is an interesting read, albeit not as satisfying as I would have wanted.

[Selien · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not for me. I had the feeling this book was written drunk, and the author had a few black-outs, putting things together without any plot. If this was meant artistic, I feel like it did not work, it was just too... vague. This book is like a snowflake, the moment you think you can grasp it, it melts on your skin. It feels indeed very scrapbooky, but I do not know why this was published or why I read it. Give it a go if you are curious and artsy, or a bit drunk, but this was not for me.

[Connor Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some lovely pieces in here, especially the longer entries, but I was hoping for more emphasis on the whole “found mysterious notebook” plot.
The backstory is intriguing but then it just turns into a collection of pretty poems, prose, facts and histories.
Was a good, quick read. Enjoyed.

[Richarquis De Sade]

I hope you all read the dust jacket. That was the beginning of the story.

[Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the most part, I'm going to repost my Amazon.com review because, well, I'm lazy. But I felt I would add a few comments first:

When I read this book back in 2004, I can safely say it was my favourite novel. Now, although this is no longer true, I need to stress that is not this book's fault. If anything, it is to Ms. Miano's credit in that her vision (combined, I guess, with that inevitable middle-class university awakening experience) opened me up to a world of literary complexity. "Encyclopaedia of Snow" still holds - and always will hold - a place in my heart and on my favourite books list. I just don't want people to think me hyperbolic in calling everything "my favourite".

I've corresponded with Ms. Miano, and I can say she is an amusing and delightful person, and I hope she continues to write in the future. I'm about to start reading her second novel, "Van Rijn", and look forward to it immensely.

(From Amazon:) Her "Encyclopaedia of Snow" is an incredibly complex, thematically rich work which pulls together dozens of stories, poems and vignettes that are in some way related to snow. At first glance, the stories - and the accompanying notes and epilogues - seem to have little in common, but as one reads and rereads them - each imbued with Miano's exquisite poetic style - all sorts of links and connections are discovered.

The stories range from a young girls' crushing experiences with anorexia, to an ancient Chinese maiden who waits to die to be with her lover; stories from Russia, Japan, the USA, and the ends of the Earth. Miano herself suggests links at the end of each "encyclopaedia entry" but the fun is also in being enveloped in the story and finding ones' own links. Her characters are rich and ranging from mythological figures to characters from literature (Joyce's "The Dead" recieves a re-working), to characters from Miano's own mind, and those from classic films (the "It's A Wonderful Life" piece is a particularly nice surprise).

I never get tired of this book, and its inherent beauty. Recommended to all but particularly those who like beautiful literature, and for those who have an affinity for snow.

[Callie Pickering · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a tough book to review. In essence it's not really a book so much as a collection of writings, poems, letters, scientific paragraphs that in some way relate to snow (or being cold). There are one or two recurring stories that piece themselves together by the end but other than that this is really just an assortment of fairly random writings.

Honestly, I enjoyed this book up until the point where the novelty began wearing off. Its quite beautifully written but the utter lack of a storyline threw me off. The short stories are too disjointed and become incredibly confusing. It took me a while to figure out what was actually going on- had the author made up all these stories? Had she interviewed all these people? This obviously wasn't the case in some instances where I recognised the name of a long dead person (like Auden or Krafft Ebbing). The lack of information on the dustjacket or prologue didnt help. It was only at the end of the book, where a short paragraph or line was written for each of the people who had been referenced at the nd of each writing did i finally 'get it'.

I don't know, i'm glad I read it but I won't be reading it again.

[Ellen-Arwen Tristram · Rating 1 out of 5]

Now, I don't know whether I'm missing something or not. Maybe I'm just missing something, or I'm not literate enough to understand it. To me, it was just pure drivel. It's been described as 'brimming with originality and wit,' and that it eventually reveals a 'the heart of one particular love story.'

Okay, I'll go with original. Never read anything like it before. But... well, I'm glad of that. Witt was also present; there were an awful lot of references that may have been funny if I'd understood them. And a love story? Well, there were various love stories throughout but none seemed more poignant than other.

Basically, I didn't understand it. It was written as an encyclopaedia i.e. it would have a word and then a series of explanations to accompany it. Some of the explanations had relevance to the word, and some seemed totally random.

I was really disappointed; it seemed like an interesting idea. But, reading between the lines, no reviewer says it is a GOOD book. They say it's clever and innovative and original, but I've yet to find a professional reviewer who says that they ENJOYED it. Maybe I'm less stupid than I thought. Not sure.

Anyway, recommend to: no one.

[flowerville · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://fortlaufen.blogspot.com/2019/...

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Tell me," you said, "why you have been like a pool of frozen water since we came here . . ." I didn't reply, or move an inch, not even when the wind sent a new drift of snow over me. "Tell me," you said. "Otherwise how can I reach you?" After a moment you looked me in the eye, briefly, and I wanted to speak to you but my thoughts and feelings were trapped in a triad of cold, silence and height.

A man's love-letter to a woman, written in the form of an encyclopaedia about snow. The entries include stories, scientific article, myths and an Inuit's description of how to make kamiks (waterproof fur boots) from caribou skin.

I picked this book up on a whim because I liked the cover, and I'm glad I did.

[Nia Nymue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll have to reread this again to decide whether to give it 4 or 5 stars. It is on my favourite shelf (a literally existing one at home containing books I like most, of the many I own), so it must be at least 4 stars.

[Michaela · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book very hard to read, especially the second half - I really struggled to finish it. The author has got a big potential though - I did enjoy the longer stories, they were beautiful, but the short stories & quotes didn't really go well with me.

[Courtney Tight · Rating 5 out of 5]

a new type of fiction emerges

[sisterimapoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very unusual use of style - but it worked. I think more authors should strive to be experimental.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I need to take a second read of this book before I can properly review it. I can say it is entertaining and quite experimental.

[Hilary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful - plus any writer who confuses lie and lay doesn t deserve to be published.

[Malcolm · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I had a list of worst books I have ever read this would beat all comers

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my review on my blog

https://bookaroundthecorner.wordpress...

[GaiB]

DNF - if a book's going to be this pointless it needs to be exquisitely written