Belated reading roundup and book meme

[hamsterwoman]

I remembered that I had some books written up for over a month that didn't fit in my last reading roundup post, and I might as well post those because I keep reading more but not writing them up for some reason. But there's no sense in waiting until these fade from my mind even further.

33. Dhonielle Clayton, The Belles -- I actually wasn't going

Comments

[aletheiafelinea]

And yet the school makes people temerairing all the time

[hamsterwoman]

And yet the school makes people temerairing all the time... -.-

True! I guess their end goal is not enjoyment, but it certainly doesn't contribute to it...

I do want to catch up on some of the "classic sci-fi" I've missed -- my current sync read of CJ Cherryh's Cyteen is part of that, and it's been a good thing so far. Maybe Heinlein at some point, and possibly Clarke, too.

Wait, "Anne of Green Gables" wasn't a thing in USSR? Here it had the "every girl loves it" status.

I don't think so... The titles never rang a bell for me, so I don't think it's even a case where the books were popular at an older age than when I left. There were a lot homegrown books about young people, some of them very good, so I guess that's what people enjoyed?

she's C.S.Lewis thing, and her imagination and worldbuilding was giving him run for his money, and sometimes left him far behind, eating dust, I'd say.Never read any CS Lewis either, until a collection of uncharacteristic poems just a few months ago. In general I'm not a huge fan of portal

[aletheiafelinea]

I guess their end goal is not enjoyment
Technically true, but since one of their declared goals is cultivating the habit of reading, they're effectively counterproductive...

@Montgomery
Huh... TIL

There were a lot homegrown books about young people, some of them very good, so I guess that's what people enjoyed?
So were here, many of them with a cult status of their own, but Montgomery still was/is big in cultural terms, on the Winnie the Pooh level.
(Any examples of those USSR books/authors? :) I mostly recall the kid lit, not so much for teens...)

Never read any CS Lewis either, until a collection of uncharacteristic poems just a few months ago.
...Oh. Yeah, she was good, but admittedly used portals a lot.

I've never come across it on, like, lists, but a LJ friend mentioned it to me, an I recced it to a couple of other people, who all ended up enjoying it.
Hehe, that's what I call a properly working friendlist. ;)

[hamsterwoman]

but since one of their declared goals is cultivating the habit of reading, they're effectively counterproductive...

Yep, unfortunately.

(Any examples of those USSR books/authors? :)

The ones I recall, with the caveat that as I never got to the YA lit level while living there, these may well be the classics of my parents' generation, and not what my peers were reading. Though... by the time my peers got to be teens, there was no USSR anymore, I guess, and I think what they were reading was an influx of Western books in translation.

- Lev Kassil's "Konduit i Shwambrania, about a pair of brothers who invent an imaginary country as kids, and then the book follows their lives through the lead-up to the Revolution. This was my father's favorite book as a kid, and I loved it for I think obvious reasons :)

- Respublika ShKID (the movie entry has more detail in English), about a group of boys in a reform school in the 1920s.

- "Doroga uhodit vdal'" by Alexandra Brushtein -- autographical books about pre-revolutionary life (which I

[aletheiafelinea]

I see some were translated here, but no one rings a bell, alas...

maybe it will once I hit "post" :P
It always does. XD

[hamsterwoman]

I remember all of them very fondly! But haven't reread them in years, so no idea how they hold up, to a grown-up or a modern reader...