Reading Wednesday
Just Finished
I actually had a three day weekend and besides playing two sessions of D&D I caught up on a lot of reading. That, and I had to read or lose a couple of ebooks, and forgot to do this last week, so it's a longer list than usual.
I read five books and a few manga during that time.
First up, Proper English by KJ Charles, the f/f historical romance prequel to my favorite book of hers Think of England. This was a fun read, and I loved watching Fen and Pat fall in love, and meet a few other interesting characters. I wonder if Charles will write a side novella about Spoiler and Spoiler. Honestly my only problem was that I'd read a fic about Pat and Fen and the story line is so similar and the characterization so on point that I keep getting distracted by that.
Can't Escape Love by Alyssa Cole is another installment of the Reluctant Royals series. No royalty in this, except with the subplot of Reggie introducing a princess fantasy show to Gus over the course of the story. I really liked this one! Reggie's fannishness felt like familiar, and I loved her developing relationship with Gus, and the way they both understood each other being underestimated because of Gus' autism and Reggie using a wheelchair. I felt the ending was a little abrupt and tied too much into the fallout for Reggie's sister's book, but otherwise it was great.
Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone is the first book in the Craft Sequence, a fantasy series I keep meaning to read more of. I read this one years ago and forgot most of the plot, but wanted to actually read the whole series, so I read it again. It's a great read, I love the worldbuilding and the characters, and look forward to reading more in the universe. (I'd also misremembered that one character died and so was very pleasantly surprised at their survival!)
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie is a fantasy novel in which Leckie continues her wonderful trend of writing non-human POVs. It's great! The story itself was a blend of Hamlet and a couple other stories, which was fun. I hope Eolo and Tikaz live happily. I really loved the gods in this, and the worldbuilding. I think my only complaint is that I like the character of Hamlet a bit more than Leckie seems to, but it was still enjoyable and I will continue to read anything Leckie gives to us.
Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse is the sequel to Trail of Lightning, a post-apocalyptic fantasy series. I whined to myself for the first chapter about how I wanted Maggie to have more female friends, and Roanhorse was like, "How would you like her to accidentally adopt a grieving, angry bisexual teenage girl?" as well as brought back two of the female characters from the previous book, so I enjoyed it a lot, despite some grim stuff happening.
Manga-wise, I read Satoru Noda's Golden Kamuy volumes 5 through 7. I continue to enjoy this weird blend of slice of life (all the gushing about food and cooking) and bleak post-war life story. I really love Sugimoto and Asripa's friendship, and Ogata accidentally being adopted by the village. I can't wait to pick up the next few manga.
I also read the entire series of Sweet Blue Flowers by Takako Shimura, which is a classic yuri manga that I've been meaning to read for ages. I was not expecting the first f/f relationship in the series to be cousin incest, which took me by surprise, but the relationship is over at the start of the series, and I really enjoyed the messy, complicated relationships of the two groups of girls in this, and the mixture of lesbians and bisexual girls in it, the way the main couple has complications because sexuality and feelings are hard. I love track of a few characters just because there were so many side stories, but I ended up liking it a lot.
Currently Reading
Still making my way through Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott, which is part memoir, part writing advice and an all-around fascinating book. It's also got some very useful advice. I'm tempted to actually buy a copy for myself to use as I tackle my original works, because a lot of the mental struggles she addresses really resonates with me.
I also just started A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang. I initially didn't remember why I'd checked it out -- it's a jazz age murder mystery -- but the first chapter has an f/f/m relationship so maybe I found it on a queer novels recommendation list? Either way I'm only into the second chapter but it seems like it'll be an interesting read!
Up Next
Well, An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England by Venetia Murray and Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency both have holds on them, so both probably those next. I keep kicking around the idea of writing an f/f regency romance novel, so maybe I'll read these books and take some notes.