December books
Life is stupidly busy as ever but some of the tidying and organising I did over Christmas seems to be sticking and I think maybe it will help? I feel completely exhausted but marginally less stressed... though if I'd been typing this last night that wouldn't have quite been true so it's very much a work in progress!
My big achievement this year is in leaving comments on Yuletide stories- I've tried to leave a comment on everything I liked enough to bookmark as at least a starting point and I'm mostly succeeding.
Anyway this evening I had planned to try and write some thoughts about 2017's books but I realised I never posted my December reading so here's that first.
White Boots - Noel Streatfield My Yuletide fandom and a joy to both reread and write ♥
Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges (Andrew Hurley trans.) This book ♥ It's academic papers about books that don't exist and stories about someone living a year in a second and a story about a book about a fictional universe created by the people of a country that doesn't exist and it's meta and each story take you somewhere different AND YET all of it is readable and (other than occasionally making your brain ache as it stretches) it's fun! And it was written in the 1940s so before most postmodern theories were really making themselves felt in literature. I can't remember who got me this book, possibly my brother? But whoever it was it was a great decision.
Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler I guess this is very true to The Taming of the Shrew in that I basically hated all of it? Early on I had hope something interesting was happening but it turned out to be nothing and I am (as documented when talking about theatre) really bored & sick of Shrew. Just watch 10 Things I Hate About You instead. It's much better.
The Power - Naomi Alderman This was a fascinating read that I'm glad I got round to but it was very odd to read at Christmas with all the glitter & glam because it's really nasty in places. It deals with women suddenly gaining power that gives them the upper hand but before that there's some really nasty violence against them and then after... well human nature? I'm not sure I enjoyed it but I can't quite get any of it out of my head.
A Short and Easy Method of Prayer: Praying the Heart of the Father - Madame Jeanne Guyon I've been reading this on and off all year but made a concerted effort to finish it in Advent. It was writtenin the late 1600s and she was imprisoned as an adherent of mysticism but this little book is really lovely. It's short but not easy I'd say but a really helpful way to think about prayer and I'm sure I'll come back to some of the early chapters again.
Lanterns Across the Snow - Susan Hill Every Christmas and it never grows old ♥
Guardians of the Whills - Greg Rucka Had to read the Baze & Chirrut novel though I'm not often fond of novels/novelisations following films. It's nice to fill in some more gaps in their past though and look at life under imperial occupation ahead of Rogue One.
Grooks - Piet Hein I came across this books whilst putting some of my Christmas books away and it's always a fun read.
Men, said the Devil,
are good to their brothers:
they don't want to mend
their own ways, but each other's.
Christmas Stories - Everyman Pocket Classic My parents gave me a Christmas survival kit which included this book (plus some chocolates, a bath bomb and some gin ♥) It's a real mix of authors so a real mix of tone and style which was quite nice in this post-Christmas limbo period. There's a lovely Tolstoy about being God's hands on earth but also several quite cynical stories and a few truly sad ones. I think I'll dip in and out of it for future Christmasses.
Sonnets - William Shakespeare I'd never really read the sonnets before, just the well kown ones, so I thought I ought to give that a go! I finally finished on New Year's Eve and my conclusion? Some of them really are very beautiful but reading them together isn't the greatest idea because a lot of them harp on the same themes and some of his descriptions of love are a little on the obsessive side. However when you click with an emotion he's describing they really are amazing.
(I'll make my whole year post separate which might mean tomorrow)
This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1407038.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
My big achievement this year is in leaving comments on Yuletide stories- I've tried to leave a comment on everything I liked enough to bookmark as at least a starting point and I'm mostly succeeding.
Anyway this evening I had planned to try and write some thoughts about 2017's books but I realised I never posted my December reading so here's that first.
- White Boots - Noel Streatfield
- Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges (Andrew Hurley trans.)
- Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler
- The Power - Naomi Alderman
- A Short and Easy Method of Prayer: Praying the Heart of the Father - Madame Jeanne Guyon
- Lanterns Across the Snow - Susan Hill
- Guardians of the Whills - Greg Rucka
- Grooks - Piet Hein
- Christmas Stories - Everyman Pocket Classic
- Sonnets - William Shakespeare
White Boots - Noel Streatfield My Yuletide fandom and a joy to both reread and write ♥
Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges (Andrew Hurley trans.) This book ♥ It's academic papers about books that don't exist and stories about someone living a year in a second and a story about a book about a fictional universe created by the people of a country that doesn't exist and it's meta and each story take you somewhere different AND YET all of it is readable and (other than occasionally making your brain ache as it stretches) it's fun! And it was written in the 1940s so before most postmodern theories were really making themselves felt in literature. I can't remember who got me this book, possibly my brother? But whoever it was it was a great decision.
Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler I guess this is very true to The Taming of the Shrew in that I basically hated all of it? Early on I had hope something interesting was happening but it turned out to be nothing and I am (as documented when talking about theatre) really bored & sick of Shrew. Just watch 10 Things I Hate About You instead. It's much better.
The Power - Naomi Alderman This was a fascinating read that I'm glad I got round to but it was very odd to read at Christmas with all the glitter & glam because it's really nasty in places. It deals with women suddenly gaining power that gives them the upper hand but before that there's some really nasty violence against them and then after... well human nature? I'm not sure I enjoyed it but I can't quite get any of it out of my head.
A Short and Easy Method of Prayer: Praying the Heart of the Father - Madame Jeanne Guyon I've been reading this on and off all year but made a concerted effort to finish it in Advent. It was writtenin the late 1600s and she was imprisoned as an adherent of mysticism but this little book is really lovely. It's short but not easy I'd say but a really helpful way to think about prayer and I'm sure I'll come back to some of the early chapters again.
Lanterns Across the Snow - Susan Hill Every Christmas and it never grows old ♥
Guardians of the Whills - Greg Rucka Had to read the Baze & Chirrut novel though I'm not often fond of novels/novelisations following films. It's nice to fill in some more gaps in their past though and look at life under imperial occupation ahead of Rogue One.
Grooks - Piet Hein I came across this books whilst putting some of my Christmas books away and it's always a fun read.
Men, said the Devil,
are good to their brothers:
they don't want to mend
their own ways, but each other's.
Christmas Stories - Everyman Pocket Classic My parents gave me a Christmas survival kit which included this book (plus some chocolates, a bath bomb and some gin ♥) It's a real mix of authors so a real mix of tone and style which was quite nice in this post-Christmas limbo period. There's a lovely Tolstoy about being God's hands on earth but also several quite cynical stories and a few truly sad ones. I think I'll dip in and out of it for future Christmasses.
Sonnets - William Shakespeare I'd never really read the sonnets before, just the well kown ones, so I thought I ought to give that a go! I finally finished on New Year's Eve and my conclusion? Some of them really are very beautiful but reading them together isn't the greatest idea because a lot of them harp on the same themes and some of his descriptions of love are a little on the obsessive side. However when you click with an emotion he's describing they really are amazing.
(I'll make my whole year post separate which might mean tomorrow)
This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1407038.html. Please comment there using OpenID.