What Are You Reading Weekend
Jul. 22nd, 2018 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentricIt's been a while. Travelling happened! So did travelling book acquisition, in both e-book and hard copy format. I also had to make the final cull of my unread books shelf - five or six into my luggage for the next six weeks, some to give away, and the rest into long term storage.
Currently Reading: Various, but the most significant is Lord of the Rings, which I bought in e-book (thereby convincing myself to give up my paper 'reading' copies) and read during the UK trip. I'm having a lot of feelings - a mix of new observations, interesting interpretive crossovers between book and movie, amusing takes based on now not taking it so Seriously, and just... feelings. Now is an interesting time to essentially climb back inside 16 y old me's happy/safe place - although it is amusing that I've finally achieved the perfect balance between my ideal holiday and mum's. I now appreciate the attractions of Small Towns (although as there's only one of me, I can spend much more time eating cake and drinking interesting drinks than we did on family budget holidays), and of going for walks; but I get to combine those (often simultaneously - I perched on a stile above Cheddar and read) with long stretches of reading LOTR per day. Excellent.
Recently Finished: This selection covers the week before I left for conferences, and the first part of the conference trip, I think.
The Edge of the Abyss by Emily Skrutskie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Huh. On the one hand, this showed excellent worldbuilding, and some interesting character development. On the other hand, it was too rushed, and skimped its logic in the conclusion. It should've been book two of a trilogy, not the conclusion of a duology: I kind of wonder if it was originally planned as 2/3 and cut down to publisher demands.
Toad Words and Other Stories by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was absolutely adorable. Some of the stories and most of the poems I recognised from Ursula's blog, but some were new, and it was great having them all in the one place.
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Oh, wow. I think this book may be to my early 30s what 'Portrait of a Lady' was to my early 20s. I spent the first third of the book torn between a desire to give Lucy Snowe a stern talking to for her poor life choices, and a desire to convince her to run away with me, that we might be anti-social together.
The depictions of Lucy's social insecurity - the moments when she returns from being with her friends and closes off her emotions, her hopes, her everything, because she just does not believe she deserves or can expect even the simplest of friendship ongoing: those were, ouch. Very well sketched, shall we say?
Her ??love interest?? is an absolute weirdo. More interesting, in some ways, than Professor Bhaer - my problem with feeling cynical about Jo March's marriage is I do LIKE Bhaer and I genuinely /like/ their relationship. Lucy and M. Paul, on the other hand: I don't even know what to think. The only thing they have going for them is a mutual appreciation for each other's weirdness, but as that includes all the reasons why neither of them is or really wants to be married, it's... hard to picture. And as Teh Queer Scholars are quick to point out, in some of the early prolepses, Lucy describes herself at the time of retrospectively telling the tale as wearing clothing typical of an old maid, not a wife or widow. So. That's. A thing.
The play scene was definitely Something, too. Sharon Marcus aint wrong about this book, is all I have to say here.
A Summer for Scandal by Lydia San Andres
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was really interesting - engaging plot and side plots, detailed but unsual-for-the-genre setting, romance that Worked, thoughtful approach to the types and politics of sex in context.
First Position by Melissa Brayden
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Hmm. Setting good. Plot and sexual tension, good. Prose very flat. Relationship dynamic sparking off the page; actual sex scenes varying from 'meh' to '... wait, has this author ever had sex with, or BEEN, a woman?'
The Doctor's Discretion by E.E. Ottoman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was notably better than First Position, and does some really interesting work with realising a trans and/or intersex character (his anatomy is not described in terms that compare it to cis and normative anatomy, so it's not possible to tell). The 'heist' part of the plot is pulled off well, but the main ship fell a little flat, I thought, and the book overall was... too short to develop a proper romance plot level of to-and-fro.
Up Next: What have I saved from the storage? 'Death on the Cherwell', which I picked up in Leeds, and a book from Persephone Books in London. 'The Queer Child', and... some others I've forgotten.
Music notes: haven't added anything new for a while, although the pre-order for Amy Shark's 'Love Monster' finally came in, and I like it. Kind of reminds me of Little Birdy.
Currently Reading: Various, but the most significant is Lord of the Rings, which I bought in e-book (thereby convincing myself to give up my paper 'reading' copies) and read during the UK trip. I'm having a lot of feelings - a mix of new observations, interesting interpretive crossovers between book and movie, amusing takes based on now not taking it so Seriously, and just... feelings. Now is an interesting time to essentially climb back inside 16 y old me's happy/safe place - although it is amusing that I've finally achieved the perfect balance between my ideal holiday and mum's. I now appreciate the attractions of Small Towns (although as there's only one of me, I can spend much more time eating cake and drinking interesting drinks than we did on family budget holidays), and of going for walks; but I get to combine those (often simultaneously - I perched on a stile above Cheddar and read) with long stretches of reading LOTR per day. Excellent.
Recently Finished: This selection covers the week before I left for conferences, and the first part of the conference trip, I think.
The Edge of the Abyss by Emily SkrutskieMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Huh. On the one hand, this showed excellent worldbuilding, and some interesting character development. On the other hand, it was too rushed, and skimped its logic in the conclusion. It should've been book two of a trilogy, not the conclusion of a duology: I kind of wonder if it was originally planned as 2/3 and cut down to publisher demands.
Toad Words and Other Stories by T. KingfisherMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was absolutely adorable. Some of the stories and most of the poems I recognised from Ursula's blog, but some were new, and it was great having them all in the one place.
Villette by Charlotte BrontëMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Oh, wow. I think this book may be to my early 30s what 'Portrait of a Lady' was to my early 20s. I spent the first third of the book torn between a desire to give Lucy Snowe a stern talking to for her poor life choices, and a desire to convince her to run away with me, that we might be anti-social together.
The depictions of Lucy's social insecurity - the moments when she returns from being with her friends and closes off her emotions, her hopes, her everything, because she just does not believe she deserves or can expect even the simplest of friendship ongoing: those were, ouch. Very well sketched, shall we say?
Her ??love interest?? is an absolute weirdo. More interesting, in some ways, than Professor Bhaer - my problem with feeling cynical about Jo March's marriage is I do LIKE Bhaer and I genuinely /like/ their relationship. Lucy and M. Paul, on the other hand: I don't even know what to think. The only thing they have going for them is a mutual appreciation for each other's weirdness, but as that includes all the reasons why neither of them is or really wants to be married, it's... hard to picture. And as Teh Queer Scholars are quick to point out, in some of the early prolepses, Lucy describes herself at the time of retrospectively telling the tale as wearing clothing typical of an old maid, not a wife or widow. So. That's. A thing.
The play scene was definitely Something, too. Sharon Marcus aint wrong about this book, is all I have to say here.
A Summer for Scandal by Lydia San AndresMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was really interesting - engaging plot and side plots, detailed but unsual-for-the-genre setting, romance that Worked, thoughtful approach to the types and politics of sex in context.
First Position by Melissa BraydenMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Hmm. Setting good. Plot and sexual tension, good. Prose very flat. Relationship dynamic sparking off the page; actual sex scenes varying from 'meh' to '... wait, has this author ever had sex with, or BEEN, a woman?'
The Doctor's Discretion by E.E. OttomanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was notably better than First Position, and does some really interesting work with realising a trans and/or intersex character (his anatomy is not described in terms that compare it to cis and normative anatomy, so it's not possible to tell). The 'heist' part of the plot is pulled off well, but the main ship fell a little flat, I thought, and the book overall was... too short to develop a proper romance plot level of to-and-fro.
Up Next: What have I saved from the storage? 'Death on the Cherwell', which I picked up in Leeds, and a book from Persephone Books in London. 'The Queer Child', and... some others I've forgotten.
Music notes: haven't added anything new for a while, although the pre-order for Amy Shark's 'Love Monster' finally came in, and I like it. Kind of reminds me of Little Birdy.
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Date: 2018-07-26 04:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-26 09:52 am (UTC)