Whatcha Reading . .
Today's Decameron riffs on Antigone, though set in space. The unnamed narrator is probably Captain Creon, and instead of royal or clan affairs, there is a nod to cannibalism (nothing graphic).
If that doesn't sound your cuppa, tomorrow is a chapter by Pamela Dean!!!
If you feel like chatting, how are you keeping your spirits up--what are you reading?
It's just after seven in the morning here in quiet SoCal (barely any freeway noise a mile away, though of course it rarely ceases, ever) and the smell of baking bread is wafting through the house. I set the bread maker for eight a.m. so I could get early morning chores done first.
What are you reading and why did you pick it?
As usual, I've got several books going. Outlaws of the Marsh is an early Chinese wuxia novel. Actually it might not be considered early, as the wuxia tradition goes back centuries BC. This one, written in the 1300s, is practically contemporary in comparison. The translation is clear and doesn't suppress the humor.
It was written in the Chinese vernacular (which does make it a shift toward modernism) instead of classical Chinese. (A bit like people in the Renaissance writing in Latin, though speaking French, Italian, etc) And it's all about the guys. Women show up rarely, with pretty much zero agency--all they can really do is kill themselves if dishonored. So I read a few chapters at a time. It's LONG. But interesting, and some of the arcs are fun.
I picked it because I'm also reading (slowly) John Christopher Hamm's dense, scholarly Paper Swordsmen: Jin Yong and the Modern Chinese Martial Arts Novel, which traces Jin's remarkable career across decades of the astounding, and terrifying, sea changes of Chinese history of the last half of the twentieth century.
While talking about Jin's books, it dips into an eastern view of why literature, what it does for us, how it reflects what's going on--though these are adventure stories meant to entertain.
I've also got some lighter stuff going, which I tend to review over at Goodreads, but that's a start! Dogs want walking now, and I want to get back in time for hot bread fresh from baking.
This entry was originally posted at https://sartorias.dreamwidth.org/1025328.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
If that doesn't sound your cuppa, tomorrow is a chapter by Pamela Dean!!!
If you feel like chatting, how are you keeping your spirits up--what are you reading?
It's just after seven in the morning here in quiet SoCal (barely any freeway noise a mile away, though of course it rarely ceases, ever) and the smell of baking bread is wafting through the house. I set the bread maker for eight a.m. so I could get early morning chores done first.
What are you reading and why did you pick it?
As usual, I've got several books going. Outlaws of the Marsh is an early Chinese wuxia novel. Actually it might not be considered early, as the wuxia tradition goes back centuries BC. This one, written in the 1300s, is practically contemporary in comparison. The translation is clear and doesn't suppress the humor.
It was written in the Chinese vernacular (which does make it a shift toward modernism) instead of classical Chinese. (A bit like people in the Renaissance writing in Latin, though speaking French, Italian, etc) And it's all about the guys. Women show up rarely, with pretty much zero agency--all they can really do is kill themselves if dishonored. So I read a few chapters at a time. It's LONG. But interesting, and some of the arcs are fun.
I picked it because I'm also reading (slowly) John Christopher Hamm's dense, scholarly Paper Swordsmen: Jin Yong and the Modern Chinese Martial Arts Novel, which traces Jin's remarkable career across decades of the astounding, and terrifying, sea changes of Chinese history of the last half of the twentieth century.
While talking about Jin's books, it dips into an eastern view of why literature, what it does for us, how it reflects what's going on--though these are adventure stories meant to entertain.
I've also got some lighter stuff going, which I tend to review over at Goodreads, but that's a start! Dogs want walking now, and I want to get back in time for hot bread fresh from baking.
This entry was originally posted at https://sartorias.dreamwidth.org/1025328.html. Please comment there using OpenID.