It’s still a week away when this post goes live, but Happy Lunar New Year! The Year of the Dragon returns to the rivers as the Year of the Snake slithers from the woodwork1. In the spirit of Sumayyah’s post last year, I thought I’d highlight some snake-themed items in our catalogue.
I’ll get to that in a bit, though, as I’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit hole with my research for this one. You see, growing up in York Region, this celebration was called Chinese New Year, which is hyperspecific but also an accepted2 name. In China, this is 春节3 (Chūnjié) or Spring Festival, and it kicks off the largest human migration on the planet as people travel to celebrate with family and friends and use the extended vacation for sightseeing in other parts of the country. I’ve been in China during a similar holiday period, and while it’s bonkers how many people are travelling, we got where we were going at the times we were supposed to get there. The issue is less about the efficiency of transit and more about getting a ticket in the first place.
China isn’t the only country that celebrates this new year. As a couple of examples, it’s 節 Tết in Vietnam and 설날 (Seollal) in Korea. Hence, ‘Lunar New Year.’ But even this is a misnomer since it’s not a purely lunar calendar that determines when the celebration is, but rather a lunisolar calendar, aka the Chinese Calendar, which is why some prefer ‘Chinese New Year.’ Whatever it’s called and wherever it’s celebrated, it’s a time to gather with family and friends to celebrate and feast. I don’t know our menu for that day yet, but I’ve gotten pretty adept at crispy skin pork belly, so that’s an option.
But you’re not here to read about me getting side-tracked. Or maybe you are? And it’s not precisely a side track, more of an overview of why I’m doing this. Snake books, though. That’s what I’m supposed to be talking about, sssssso it’sssss time to sssssstart.
With another side track! Sort of. You see, in my search for snake books to fit this holiday, I found quite a few that reference The Legend of the White Snake, a Chinese folk tale about a man falling in love with a woman (who is actually a snake in human form), and the trials and tribulations that come with their love, culminating in the snake being trapped under a pagoda by a monk. Want to know more? The Sorcerer and the White Snake, starring Jet Li, is a movie interpretation that makes some changes to the legend but will give you the gist. It hits the plot points of a human-form female snake and a human man falling in love and has action scenes aplenty if the quote from Li noted on the Wikipedia page for the film is to be believed:
After fighting the White Snake, fight the Green Snake. After fighting the Green Snake, then fight the Demon. After fighting this Demon, then fight another Demon. After fighting this Demon, then fight the Water Monster. Every day on set I was letting out a big sigh.
Why does a love story have so much fighting? Check out the movie to find out.
Maybe you’re more of a reader, though. Don’t worry; I’ve got you covered. First up is the… unimaginatively titled Legend of the White Snake by Sher Lee. The title does what it needs to do, but it also doesn’t since a few changes have been made in this YA version of the story. In the original legend, or some recordings of the original legends, the human love interest isn’t anyone particularly famous; he’s just a scholar or physician. Some make him and the snake out to be immortals, but as far as I know4, he’s never been a prince. And the snake is always a woman, not a young man. Also, there are usually two snakes, a white snake and a green snake, also in human form. The material for this one doesn’t mention another snake. So what we have here is a queer retelling of a forbidden love story that, from the reviews, fits the YA rating to a tee. If you’re okay with a dose of insta-love, this could be a fun read to kick off the new year and learn about a culture5 that you’re unfamiliar with.
Both of the above adaptations are set in the original period, which is decidedly not modern. So Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe is a big break from that. Taking the story out of China also differentiates this darkly comic take on the tale. Set in New York and Singapore, our two leads are the titular White Snake, Su, and her sworn sister, Emerald, the green snake, who spent 800 years practicing Taoist self-cultivation. In fantasy, this, of course, grants you mystic powers and immortality. So Su has been living in Singapore as a millionaire for the past couple hundred years, while Emerald lives a bohemian lifestyle sponsored by sugar daddies in Brooklyn. The sisters look human but are still very much snakes, complete with a functionally different understanding of morality than your average person. When a visit from Su to New York turns deadly, Emerald heads back to Singapore with her. As with Legend above, this one has an LGBT genre tag on Goodreads; the descriptions don’t mention any romance between the snakes, so you’ll have to read it to find out why it deserves this tag.
Stepping away from the legend, maybe you just like snakes. If that’s the case, check out Serpentine, a collection of snakes photographed by Mark Laita. There’s not much to read here besides an introduction by the photographer and an essay by William T. Vollman. But reading isn’t why you borrow this book. You borrow this book for the enthralling photographs of the twisted, tangled, technicolour snakes6 that adorn each pitch-black page. Explanations of what each snake is are reserved for a few pages at the back, and a handful of pages feature quotes from various people; otherwise, it’s all snakes all the time.
That’s it for me this month. Seeing as my next post will be in February, I’ve got something fun brewing, so watch for it to come out if you enjoy my not-as-witty-as-I-think-it-is self depreciating humour. Before that comes, though, you may find a few surprises here at Hot Off the Shelf. No spoilers from me; you’ll have to wait and see.
1 Eastern dragons are often associated with water, and we’re entering the year of the Wood Snake, you see.
2 and even preferred by some.
3 This is the only non-English text in this post that has not been copy-pasted.
4 Which isn’t a lot. Yell at me in the… comments. Umm… yell at me on social media? If I’m wrong.
5 or cultures
6 I should have gone for an S alliteration there.