Reading Wednesday
Didn't post last week since I didn't actually finish anything....
What I've read: Finished Adulthood Rites! And Imago! More noodling for Wiscon: all three of the books are captivity narratives in ways, though Jodahs' captivity is the least restrictive... it's only outlawed from Lo, and then briefly imprisoned while looking for its human mates. I keep being struck by the biological determinism of the books, particularly the emphasis on Human males and their propensity for wandering in Adulthood Rites, and how the Oankali think it's more important to listen to the messages that Humans' bodies give as opposed to their mouths/thoughts. There are some scenes in which the person is saying they don't want to be physically intimate with an ooloi, but the ooloi reads past the words to their body and goes on anyway. And... it doesn't always work out well--the Humans are frequently conflicted--but I am reminded of rape cases in which the survivor is physically aroused during the attack and how that in itself can be incredibly traumatic (as well as the super awful arguments about how then it isn't really rape).
Must remember to go over
oracne's entry (spoilers) before the con as well. Can't believe Wiscon is in less than two weeks!
I also read
rachelmanija's A Cup of Smoke, which is a collection of her short stories and poems. I've read a lot of them before, but I really needed something comforting after Haru, and having a familiar voice (along with a rodent zodiac) was immensely helpful. Unsurprisingly, I liked the stories more than the poems (I am not a huge poetry person), and there are a lot of f/f, POC, and retold tales, which is right up my alley. I can't really be objective about this, since Rachel is a really good friend of mine, and I can see so many of her fingerprints over all the stories, but that is also why it was the perfect thing to read right when I needed it.
What I'm reading now: Er, I'm not. I started Tansy Rayner Roberts' Creature Court trilogy, but I still need familiarity and comfort right now. Possibly instead I will continue rewatching Fruits Basket and Utena (CB is watching them for the first time. I think he's more taken with Utena so far, especially now that we've seen a few more Nanami episodes).
What I'm reading next: Maybe stuff for Wiscon? I don't know. Oh wait, I mean to get to the new Skip Beat chapter!
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What I've read: Finished Adulthood Rites! And Imago! More noodling for Wiscon: all three of the books are captivity narratives in ways, though Jodahs' captivity is the least restrictive... it's only outlawed from Lo, and then briefly imprisoned while looking for its human mates. I keep being struck by the biological determinism of the books, particularly the emphasis on Human males and their propensity for wandering in Adulthood Rites, and how the Oankali think it's more important to listen to the messages that Humans' bodies give as opposed to their mouths/thoughts. There are some scenes in which the person is saying they don't want to be physically intimate with an ooloi, but the ooloi reads past the words to their body and goes on anyway. And... it doesn't always work out well--the Humans are frequently conflicted--but I am reminded of rape cases in which the survivor is physically aroused during the attack and how that in itself can be incredibly traumatic (as well as the super awful arguments about how then it isn't really rape).
Must remember to go over
oracne's entry (spoilers) before the con as well. Can't believe Wiscon is in less than two weeks!
I also read
rachelmanija's A Cup of Smoke, which is a collection of her short stories and poems. I've read a lot of them before, but I really needed something comforting after Haru, and having a familiar voice (along with a rodent zodiac) was immensely helpful. Unsurprisingly, I liked the stories more than the poems (I am not a huge poetry person), and there are a lot of f/f, POC, and retold tales, which is right up my alley. I can't really be objective about this, since Rachel is a really good friend of mine, and I can see so many of her fingerprints over all the stories, but that is also why it was the perfect thing to read right when I needed it.
What I'm reading now: Er, I'm not. I started Tansy Rayner Roberts' Creature Court trilogy, but I still need familiarity and comfort right now. Possibly instead I will continue rewatching Fruits Basket and Utena (CB is watching them for the first time. I think he's more taken with Utena so far, especially now that we've seen a few more Nanami episodes).
What I'm reading next: Maybe stuff for Wiscon? I don't know. Oh wait, I mean to get to the new Skip Beat chapter!
Comment | Read Comments (
) | Link