Wednesday reading - revisions and histories
What I've been reading
I read Aaron and Alexander: The Most Famous Duel in American History, which is a cute picture book with really good timing! The author is kind of a Burr stan, though.
I read Take Me Out, the script of a 2002 play that my friend Bev thought would be relevant to my interests since I subject her to all my baseball feelings on a regular basis. I find it really interesting that a play about a professional baseball player coming out premiered in London, of all places, although supposedly MLB wants to schedule a game there in 2017. It's a really interesting play, although I wasn't really impressed or convinced by the character of Shane Mungitt, the racist, homophobic prodigy closer, who felt more like a plot device to set events in motion for the other, more interesting characters. I would love to have seen it staged, but sadly will have to make do with great stage directions like (Guys do victory stuff.)
I read Jane, a modern YA retelling of Jane Eyre. I thought the main conceit, making Mr. Rochester a rock star, was promising-well, obviously, or I wouldn't have read it-but I found it underadapted in a lot of ways. I just flatly didn't buy that a modern Mr. Rochester could manage to be so dumb as to keep his wife in his attic, allegedly because he couldn't bear to have her institutionalized because even the best places were terrible, and then not manage any better care than one attendant with a drinking problem. I mean, what? Also he hasn't divorced or otherwise ended his marriage out of sentiment, and yet he's stil going to try the bigamous marriage gambit with Jane? Why???? So yeah, even though there were parts I liked, those were significant sticking points. Re Jane was a much better, more interesting retelling of Jane Eyre.
I read Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance That Forged America, because no one has published a book called Washington/Hamilton: The Hottest Pairing in America and it was the next closest thing. It was readable and enjoyable.
I read From the Guys Who Were There: The Kansas City Royals, which is a really delightful collection of interviews with/about the 2014 and 2015 Royals. It gave me a lot of feelings. Is it 3 April yet?
I read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which won a William C. Morris award for a debut YA book. I really liked it-it's funny, and fresh while mostly avoiding try-hard, and I thought it did a good job of depicting a realistic high school social circle with a lot of moving pieces to it.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comment(s)
I read Aaron and Alexander: The Most Famous Duel in American History, which is a cute picture book with really good timing! The author is kind of a Burr stan, though.
I read Take Me Out, the script of a 2002 play that my friend Bev thought would be relevant to my interests since I subject her to all my baseball feelings on a regular basis. I find it really interesting that a play about a professional baseball player coming out premiered in London, of all places, although supposedly MLB wants to schedule a game there in 2017. It's a really interesting play, although I wasn't really impressed or convinced by the character of Shane Mungitt, the racist, homophobic prodigy closer, who felt more like a plot device to set events in motion for the other, more interesting characters. I would love to have seen it staged, but sadly will have to make do with great stage directions like (Guys do victory stuff.)
I read Jane, a modern YA retelling of Jane Eyre. I thought the main conceit, making Mr. Rochester a rock star, was promising-well, obviously, or I wouldn't have read it-but I found it underadapted in a lot of ways. I just flatly didn't buy that a modern Mr. Rochester could manage to be so dumb as to keep his wife in his attic, allegedly because he couldn't bear to have her institutionalized because even the best places were terrible, and then not manage any better care than one attendant with a drinking problem. I mean, what? Also he hasn't divorced or otherwise ended his marriage out of sentiment, and yet he's stil going to try the bigamous marriage gambit with Jane? Why???? So yeah, even though there were parts I liked, those were significant sticking points. Re Jane was a much better, more interesting retelling of Jane Eyre.
I read Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance That Forged America, because no one has published a book called Washington/Hamilton: The Hottest Pairing in America and it was the next closest thing. It was readable and enjoyable.
I read From the Guys Who Were There: The Kansas City Royals, which is a really delightful collection of interviews with/about the 2014 and 2015 Royals. It gave me a lot of feelings. Is it 3 April yet?
I read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which won a William C. Morris award for a debut YA book. I really liked it-it's funny, and fresh while mostly avoiding try-hard, and I thought it did a good job of depicting a realistic high school social circle with a lot of moving pieces to it.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comment(s)