What I'm Reading Wednesday
That time again, folks-chime in here or at your own journal. I have no fun pictures or links-but there is TV for once.
What I’m Reading
The Far Side of the World, Patrick O’Brian (Aubrey #10) (audiobook). Almost finished with it, too. Some truly crazy shit happens in this one, almost none of which made it into the movie (for obvious reasons, mostly). There are a surprising number of comic episodes (surprising--see what I did there, in a Jack-like way ;)), which appear to be just POB flexing his writing chops, which are considerable. I’m not complaining; the whole thing is a delight. This is the one where, like Keats, they all declaim upon the delights of first reading Chapman's Homer. There is also a sailor named Macbeth.
When I started listening to these things, I couldn’t believe there were 21. Now, I can’t believe there are only 21. They seem to be dominating my year.
I haven’t cracked the spine of a print book since I finished the Kate Atkinson below. Busy and unpleasant week so far, sadly.
What I Just Finished
Treason’s Harbour, Patrick O’Brian (Aubreyad #9) (audiobook). Nothing to say about that I didn’t say last week. I liked this one, and was sorry to see Jack and Stephen leave the Mediterranean, even if they weren’t.
Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. I liked this (witness the fact that I made it through all 500+ pages, unlike 80% of the books I start)-and I absolutely recommend it, especially as a beach or plane novel, or for a book club.
It is deftly written, but still moves along quickly, and there are plenty of interesting things to ponder along the way. It’s clever, but it doesn’t get bogged down in its own cleverness. It wasn’t apparent to me from the blurbs and reviews I read how heavily (primarily) the novel is about the Second World War-particularly the Blitz-and those sections are excellent.
If that sounds like I’m damning with faint praise, I am, a little. The book is fantastic on quotidian details-it is worth reading for the proper names and menus alone-but it fumbles a bit (a lot, maybe), when it reaches for world historical relevance. The characterization is somewhat flat-people show up in the narrative as “good” or “bad” and rarely get more complex than that. Atkinson says, in the “Author’s Note” you don’t read til afterwards, that the theme of the novel is “Englishness,” but it’s quite a cozy and cliched idea of Englishness-bluebell woods, and semi-rural middleclass bliss, and all that. I raced along finishing, but I kept wanting to find it more moving than I did.
What I’m Reading Next
Dunno. Life After Life made me want to read more about the Blitz, so I have Sarah Waters’s Night Watch on hold at the library-but I’ve tried to read it before and found it hard going. I’ve read good reviews of The Woman Upstairs, so want to give that a try, too.
TV!
Now that you can stream Top of the Lake on Netflix, I feel I should make a proper rec for it. Watch it, if you can face the sexual violence-it’s very, very good. In the end, it’s harsh, but not dark, if that makes sense, with much more faith in human resilience and agency than lots of things I’ve watched lately. The acting is superb, and it’s an interesting meditation on the problem of justice outside the law. And, like I said a few weeks ago, for a show that is so centrally about rape, it’s very sex positive, with a broader representation of the shapes and practices of desire than, again, you’re likely to see elsewhere.
I also saw all of Broadchurch, which I also recommend, if you have a chance. The plot was so similar to Top of the Lake it was almost confusing. Of the two, however, Broadchurch was by far the more conservative and the more depressing. I’ve already ranted to
thirdbird about the finale, so I’ll spare you, but up until the penultimate episode, it was damn fine TV.
I’m not sure I’m even going to say anything about the season/series finale of Southland (tragic? Inevitable?), but I’d love to hear what you thought of it, if you watched it.
What should I watch now? I seem to be out of miniseries.
What I’m Reading
The Far Side of the World, Patrick O’Brian (Aubrey #10) (audiobook). Almost finished with it, too. Some truly crazy shit happens in this one, almost none of which made it into the movie (for obvious reasons, mostly). There are a surprising number of comic episodes (surprising--see what I did there, in a Jack-like way ;)), which appear to be just POB flexing his writing chops, which are considerable. I’m not complaining; the whole thing is a delight. This is the one where, like Keats, they all declaim upon the delights of first reading Chapman's Homer. There is also a sailor named Macbeth.
When I started listening to these things, I couldn’t believe there were 21. Now, I can’t believe there are only 21. They seem to be dominating my year.
I haven’t cracked the spine of a print book since I finished the Kate Atkinson below. Busy and unpleasant week so far, sadly.
What I Just Finished
Treason’s Harbour, Patrick O’Brian (Aubreyad #9) (audiobook). Nothing to say about that I didn’t say last week. I liked this one, and was sorry to see Jack and Stephen leave the Mediterranean, even if they weren’t.
Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. I liked this (witness the fact that I made it through all 500+ pages, unlike 80% of the books I start)-and I absolutely recommend it, especially as a beach or plane novel, or for a book club.
It is deftly written, but still moves along quickly, and there are plenty of interesting things to ponder along the way. It’s clever, but it doesn’t get bogged down in its own cleverness. It wasn’t apparent to me from the blurbs and reviews I read how heavily (primarily) the novel is about the Second World War-particularly the Blitz-and those sections are excellent.
If that sounds like I’m damning with faint praise, I am, a little. The book is fantastic on quotidian details-it is worth reading for the proper names and menus alone-but it fumbles a bit (a lot, maybe), when it reaches for world historical relevance. The characterization is somewhat flat-people show up in the narrative as “good” or “bad” and rarely get more complex than that. Atkinson says, in the “Author’s Note” you don’t read til afterwards, that the theme of the novel is “Englishness,” but it’s quite a cozy and cliched idea of Englishness-bluebell woods, and semi-rural middleclass bliss, and all that. I raced along finishing, but I kept wanting to find it more moving than I did.
What I’m Reading Next
Dunno. Life After Life made me want to read more about the Blitz, so I have Sarah Waters’s Night Watch on hold at the library-but I’ve tried to read it before and found it hard going. I’ve read good reviews of The Woman Upstairs, so want to give that a try, too.
TV!
Now that you can stream Top of the Lake on Netflix, I feel I should make a proper rec for it. Watch it, if you can face the sexual violence-it’s very, very good. In the end, it’s harsh, but not dark, if that makes sense, with much more faith in human resilience and agency than lots of things I’ve watched lately. The acting is superb, and it’s an interesting meditation on the problem of justice outside the law. And, like I said a few weeks ago, for a show that is so centrally about rape, it’s very sex positive, with a broader representation of the shapes and practices of desire than, again, you’re likely to see elsewhere.
I also saw all of Broadchurch, which I also recommend, if you have a chance. The plot was so similar to Top of the Lake it was almost confusing. Of the two, however, Broadchurch was by far the more conservative and the more depressing. I’ve already ranted to
thirdbird about the finale, so I’ll spare you, but up until the penultimate episode, it was damn fine TV.
I’m not sure I’m even going to say anything about the season/series finale of Southland (tragic? Inevitable?), but I’d love to hear what you thought of it, if you watched it.
What should I watch now? I seem to be out of miniseries.