Updates
Summer is settling in beautifully! It's been a busy few months--my brother was married in the spring (one of them, at any rate. I have quite a few), which was wonderful, apart from the fact that I was a complete wreck. I am not a crier, in general, but apparently I have my exceptions. I'm very fond of my sister-in-law--both my sisters-in-law, now at I have two--and so glad they're as happy as they are.
Speaking of crying. Today I finished the twentieth book in the great Aubreyad reread of 2015, during which I remained dry-eyed through The Reverse of the Medal, The Commodore, The Hundred Days, and the final scene of Blue at the Mizzen, only to break down completely when I started the audiobook of the unfinished twenty-first novel and heard the title and the first few lines of the introduction. I'm reluctant to finish; it feels like losing a friend. Or two of them, I suppose. I love Jack and Stephen like I've loved few other characters, and I feel like I know them better than most people I know in real life. I sped through these one summer maybe ten years ago and enjoyed them at the time, but they were so much better the second time around. I think the audiobooks have helped, actually.
(I have strong feelings, of course, about That Development in Hundred Days, or more particularly about the way it was followed up in Blue at the Mizzen. I am dealing with it by pretending several years passed between those two books, but I would like very much to know what Mr. O'Brian thought he was about.)
Other things I've read recently: Uprooted, by Naomi Novik, was incredibly good. Lush prose, immersive worldbuilding, and compelling characters. I agree with most of
kate_nepveu's review at Tor.com, though I think the romance worked better for me than it did for her. I was also pleasantly surprised not once but several times when I turned out to be reading a very different book than I originally thought, and the final chapter was perfect.
Also finished L. A. Meyer's Bloody Jack series, which if you haven't heard of it (I hadn't until recently) is a series of YA adventure novels about a girl who disguises herself as a ship's boy in the Royal Navy, then spends a number of years romping merrily about during the Napoleonic Wars. These books are deeply problematic, as they say, in ways I'd be happy to go into more detail about in comments (depictions of race and occasionally gender, for the most part). But it's been a while since I was so entertained.
Currently in progress: Chasing Venus, by Andrea Wulf, for both research and entertainment purposes. It's about the 1761 and 1769 transits of Venus. It's very well-researched and fairly well-written, though I'm more interested in the content than the author's style; that said, her other books look interesting, so I'll probably check those out as well. Also Alaya Dawn Johnson's Summer Prince, which I'm enjoying so far.
comments at http://pendrecarc.dreamwidth.org/179502.html. Feel free to comment wherever you prefer.
Speaking of crying. Today I finished the twentieth book in the great Aubreyad reread of 2015, during which I remained dry-eyed through The Reverse of the Medal, The Commodore, The Hundred Days, and the final scene of Blue at the Mizzen, only to break down completely when I started the audiobook of the unfinished twenty-first novel and heard the title and the first few lines of the introduction. I'm reluctant to finish; it feels like losing a friend. Or two of them, I suppose. I love Jack and Stephen like I've loved few other characters, and I feel like I know them better than most people I know in real life. I sped through these one summer maybe ten years ago and enjoyed them at the time, but they were so much better the second time around. I think the audiobooks have helped, actually.
(I have strong feelings, of course, about That Development in Hundred Days, or more particularly about the way it was followed up in Blue at the Mizzen. I am dealing with it by pretending several years passed between those two books, but I would like very much to know what Mr. O'Brian thought he was about.)
Other things I've read recently: Uprooted, by Naomi Novik, was incredibly good. Lush prose, immersive worldbuilding, and compelling characters. I agree with most of
kate_nepveu's review at Tor.com, though I think the romance worked better for me than it did for her. I was also pleasantly surprised not once but several times when I turned out to be reading a very different book than I originally thought, and the final chapter was perfect.
Also finished L. A. Meyer's Bloody Jack series, which if you haven't heard of it (I hadn't until recently) is a series of YA adventure novels about a girl who disguises herself as a ship's boy in the Royal Navy, then spends a number of years romping merrily about during the Napoleonic Wars. These books are deeply problematic, as they say, in ways I'd be happy to go into more detail about in comments (depictions of race and occasionally gender, for the most part). But it's been a while since I was so entertained.
Currently in progress: Chasing Venus, by Andrea Wulf, for both research and entertainment purposes. It's about the 1761 and 1769 transits of Venus. It's very well-researched and fairly well-written, though I'm more interested in the content than the author's style; that said, her other books look interesting, so I'll probably check those out as well. Also Alaya Dawn Johnson's Summer Prince, which I'm enjoying so far.
comments at http://pendrecarc.dreamwidth.org/179502.html. Feel free to comment wherever you prefer.