Booklog 1: Wait, what?
How the ever-loving everything is it February? It was Christmas, like, YESTERDAY. I swear it was.
I know I said I probably wouldn’t booklog any more - mostly because typing this shit up takes a while, and time is one thing I could always do with more of. But I like making myself sit down and sorting out what I think about what I read, so I’ve decided on a compromise. I’ll list everything I read in a month, but I will only write about the one where I think I’ve got something specific to say. If you think this plan sucks, by the way, please say; I like discussion of books too, and that means you lot. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes, eh?
This month I mostly got a Sony Reader for Christmas. It turns out I LOVE having an e-book reader, and find it quicker to read than a paper book and no strain on the eyes. Fab. I thoroughly recommend.
-Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
This starts off like a relatively typical Fforde; it’s got some silly wordplay and the premise, that the main character is living in a world where social status is determined by your ability to perceive colour, also seems pretty fluffy. But no! Actually that is to disguise the fact that what Fforde’s writing is actually a post-apocalyptic dystopia. With jokes. And it’s a good one. I wasn’t sure that those two things went together, but I think Fforde makes it work; part of the point is that just because awful things are happening it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing ridiculous or funny left. Petty and pointless and stupid doesn’t stop either, but then neither do love and beauty and goodness. I liked that.
I was particularly impressed by the worldbuilding here; it’s perfectly paced, and linked perfectly to the main character’s character development, and once I started I only stopped reading for work and the toilet. I also really liked Jane; Fforde is generally good at ladies, by which I mean he realises that omg women are actually OMG PEOPLE and so writes about them as having lives which are not revolving around Female Things That Men Know Not Of. Jane could relatively easy be a stereotypical “sexy but dangerous” kind of role, or stay the comedy “hot girl who wants to hurt him” she seems like in the beginning, and she doesn’t. She is pretty and she is pissed off, and that’s not the same at all. Love. Also, Fforde somehow managed to restrain himself from the Jane Eyre references, despite having main characters Edward and Jane.
Ohh yeah and even more and: this is apparently going to be a trilogy, and yet the ending wrapped up in a perfect way, leaving room for more while also tying off loose ends most satisfactorily. Excellent, and way more fun than I thought a post-apocalyptic dystopia could be.
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
I hadn’t re-read this in ages but noticing the Edward and Jane similarity in Shades of Grey made me decide I had to, stat. I still love this, so much; it’s kind of overblown in some ways and also my mental image of the Brontes is now very definitely the versions of them from Hark! A Vagrant!, but… oh. This was the first grownup book I read with a female main character, and Jane’s intelligence and fire and the way she is both ordinary and extraordinary, a true heroine who could also be anyone, meant a lot to me growing up. She’s fantastic, and her total humanity is the reason this has lasted well after its gothic trappings have fallen out of fashion. Love it.
(Also, St John Rivers is a dick and no-one will ever convince me otherwise.)
- Witch Week and Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones
How is DWJ so great? But she is. Witch Week is surprise!Chrestomanci sorting out a world where magic is majorly illegal. I do love hearing about the different worlds! And Chrestomanci’s dressing-gowns. And the kids here were pretty great, and I loved that there was an Underground Railroad-esque network of ladies sneaking magical people out. Fab.
And Year of the Griffin was a SEQUEL TO THE DARK WIZARD OF DERKHOLM, a.k.a. possibly my favourite DWJ to date, and it made me so happy! Griffins! Being awesome! With learning! And making friends with all sorts of different people, and having a university experience, and just, aw. Love it. It was maybe slightly heteronormative, but I have decided that Kit is queer. It’s totally arguable from canon, people.
- Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Yay, Victorian lesbians! I enjoyed this, even though it had a kind of weird "and then they had sex and that's it then" abrupt ending and I also felt that some of it had potential for more story that wasn't there. (Specifically the Victorian porn ring and Gentleman.) I liked the layers of deceit revealed by shifts in points of view, that was really cool. I also liked the way it was easy to read it as being about society making women hate each other and be horrible to each other... before they find themselves with the gay, gay sex. :D
- Dead and Buried by Barbara Hambly
I've never read any Hambly before but I know some people whose opinions I value like her. I probably shouldn't have started here - this is a Benjamin January mystery and not the first one - but it was the only one my library system had, even on reserve! Luckily, it worked out just fine. I like Benjamin himself very much, and Hambly's use of the murder mystery format to tell us a story about 1860s New Orleans from the couleur libre (or free black) point of view works very well, I think. It's done... hmm, I think the best I can describe it is that I don't think anyone would doubt it was written by a white person, but it never made me feel skeevy or embarrassed or as though I was endorsing anything wrong. It was upsetting - any halfway decent book about a black man living in the deep south in the 1860s is going to be that - but in a way I found ultimately positive. I'm going to keep an eye out for more by her.
- A Room of One's Own by Virgina Woolf
I hadn't read this since sixth form but reading Jane Eyre reminded me of it, because Woolf really didn't like it. And I still think she's wrong; Jane's anger at the status of women does seem like it's also likely to be Charlotte Bronte's anger, but I don't think that takes anything away from it at all. It was also visited by the Gender Essentialism Fairy when I wasn't looking; I mean, obviously it was written a long time ago, but the stuff about the different ways women are limited by patriarchy in their ability to create art is so fresh and so good even today that it comes as a bit of a shock when she's then like, oh yeah and also if you write like a man you're not truly writing as a woman.
(She does get points, I think, given how long ago it was, for saying that everyone has both masculine and feminine qualities, but her talking about the balance in a man vs the balance in a woman comes over really really badly! I mean, this was one of the things that made a lot of later sex and gender thought possible, but I had not noticed this AT ALL when I was reading it age like 17. Holy crap.)
Otherwise, I still love her description of her thought processes and the sheer power of her intelligence. Aw yeah.
I also read: The Big Time by Fritz Leiber (took ages to get into, not too bad as classic SF)
The Time Machine by HG Wells (still interesting, more sexist than I remembered)
I Was Douglas Adams' Flatmate by Andrew McGibbon who wasn't Douglas Adams' flatmate at all but WAS Morissey's drummer
Death of a Doxy, Homicide Trinity, and Too Many Women by Rex Stout, which made me want to write a very long post about Archie Goodwin: The Weirdest Ladies Man In Fiction
and Anne of Ingleside by LM Montgomery (more fun than House of Dreams by a long shot; read it because it was up for free download and I wanted to test my Reader out)
Finally, a confidential note to Downton Abbey: DAMN YOU FOR BEING ACTUALLY GOOD AND MAKING ME WANT TO WATCH YOU. DAMN YOU.
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/51516.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
I know I said I probably wouldn’t booklog any more - mostly because typing this shit up takes a while, and time is one thing I could always do with more of. But I like making myself sit down and sorting out what I think about what I read, so I’ve decided on a compromise. I’ll list everything I read in a month, but I will only write about the one where I think I’ve got something specific to say. If you think this plan sucks, by the way, please say; I like discussion of books too, and that means you lot. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes, eh?
This month I mostly got a Sony Reader for Christmas. It turns out I LOVE having an e-book reader, and find it quicker to read than a paper book and no strain on the eyes. Fab. I thoroughly recommend.
-Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
This starts off like a relatively typical Fforde; it’s got some silly wordplay and the premise, that the main character is living in a world where social status is determined by your ability to perceive colour, also seems pretty fluffy. But no! Actually that is to disguise the fact that what Fforde’s writing is actually a post-apocalyptic dystopia. With jokes. And it’s a good one. I wasn’t sure that those two things went together, but I think Fforde makes it work; part of the point is that just because awful things are happening it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing ridiculous or funny left. Petty and pointless and stupid doesn’t stop either, but then neither do love and beauty and goodness. I liked that.
I was particularly impressed by the worldbuilding here; it’s perfectly paced, and linked perfectly to the main character’s character development, and once I started I only stopped reading for work and the toilet. I also really liked Jane; Fforde is generally good at ladies, by which I mean he realises that omg women are actually OMG PEOPLE and so writes about them as having lives which are not revolving around Female Things That Men Know Not Of. Jane could relatively easy be a stereotypical “sexy but dangerous” kind of role, or stay the comedy “hot girl who wants to hurt him” she seems like in the beginning, and she doesn’t. She is pretty and she is pissed off, and that’s not the same at all. Love. Also, Fforde somehow managed to restrain himself from the Jane Eyre references, despite having main characters Edward and Jane.
Ohh yeah and even more and: this is apparently going to be a trilogy, and yet the ending wrapped up in a perfect way, leaving room for more while also tying off loose ends most satisfactorily. Excellent, and way more fun than I thought a post-apocalyptic dystopia could be.
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
I hadn’t re-read this in ages but noticing the Edward and Jane similarity in Shades of Grey made me decide I had to, stat. I still love this, so much; it’s kind of overblown in some ways and also my mental image of the Brontes is now very definitely the versions of them from Hark! A Vagrant!, but… oh. This was the first grownup book I read with a female main character, and Jane’s intelligence and fire and the way she is both ordinary and extraordinary, a true heroine who could also be anyone, meant a lot to me growing up. She’s fantastic, and her total humanity is the reason this has lasted well after its gothic trappings have fallen out of fashion. Love it.
(Also, St John Rivers is a dick and no-one will ever convince me otherwise.)
- Witch Week and Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones
How is DWJ so great? But she is. Witch Week is surprise!Chrestomanci sorting out a world where magic is majorly illegal. I do love hearing about the different worlds! And Chrestomanci’s dressing-gowns. And the kids here were pretty great, and I loved that there was an Underground Railroad-esque network of ladies sneaking magical people out. Fab.
And Year of the Griffin was a SEQUEL TO THE DARK WIZARD OF DERKHOLM, a.k.a. possibly my favourite DWJ to date, and it made me so happy! Griffins! Being awesome! With learning! And making friends with all sorts of different people, and having a university experience, and just, aw. Love it. It was maybe slightly heteronormative, but I have decided that Kit is queer. It’s totally arguable from canon, people.
- Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Yay, Victorian lesbians! I enjoyed this, even though it had a kind of weird "and then they had sex and that's it then" abrupt ending and I also felt that some of it had potential for more story that wasn't there. (Specifically the Victorian porn ring and Gentleman.) I liked the layers of deceit revealed by shifts in points of view, that was really cool. I also liked the way it was easy to read it as being about society making women hate each other and be horrible to each other... before they find themselves with the gay, gay sex. :D
- Dead and Buried by Barbara Hambly
I've never read any Hambly before but I know some people whose opinions I value like her. I probably shouldn't have started here - this is a Benjamin January mystery and not the first one - but it was the only one my library system had, even on reserve! Luckily, it worked out just fine. I like Benjamin himself very much, and Hambly's use of the murder mystery format to tell us a story about 1860s New Orleans from the couleur libre (or free black) point of view works very well, I think. It's done... hmm, I think the best I can describe it is that I don't think anyone would doubt it was written by a white person, but it never made me feel skeevy or embarrassed or as though I was endorsing anything wrong. It was upsetting - any halfway decent book about a black man living in the deep south in the 1860s is going to be that - but in a way I found ultimately positive. I'm going to keep an eye out for more by her.
- A Room of One's Own by Virgina Woolf
I hadn't read this since sixth form but reading Jane Eyre reminded me of it, because Woolf really didn't like it. And I still think she's wrong; Jane's anger at the status of women does seem like it's also likely to be Charlotte Bronte's anger, but I don't think that takes anything away from it at all. It was also visited by the Gender Essentialism Fairy when I wasn't looking; I mean, obviously it was written a long time ago, but the stuff about the different ways women are limited by patriarchy in their ability to create art is so fresh and so good even today that it comes as a bit of a shock when she's then like, oh yeah and also if you write like a man you're not truly writing as a woman.
(She does get points, I think, given how long ago it was, for saying that everyone has both masculine and feminine qualities, but her talking about the balance in a man vs the balance in a woman comes over really really badly! I mean, this was one of the things that made a lot of later sex and gender thought possible, but I had not noticed this AT ALL when I was reading it age like 17. Holy crap.)
Otherwise, I still love her description of her thought processes and the sheer power of her intelligence. Aw yeah.
I also read: The Big Time by Fritz Leiber (took ages to get into, not too bad as classic SF)
The Time Machine by HG Wells (still interesting, more sexist than I remembered)
I Was Douglas Adams' Flatmate by Andrew McGibbon who wasn't Douglas Adams' flatmate at all but WAS Morissey's drummer
Death of a Doxy, Homicide Trinity, and Too Many Women by Rex Stout, which made me want to write a very long post about Archie Goodwin: The Weirdest Ladies Man In Fiction
and Anne of Ingleside by LM Montgomery (more fun than House of Dreams by a long shot; read it because it was up for free download and I wanted to test my Reader out)
Finally, a confidential note to Downton Abbey: DAMN YOU FOR BEING ACTUALLY GOOD AND MAKING ME WANT TO WATCH YOU. DAMN YOU.
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/51516.html. Please comment there using OpenID.