Booklog 3: ALL the pages!
Not quite literally! I remember the day as a child when I worked out I would never read everything ever written - that was a sad day, dammit. But I took some holiday in March. And everyone knows what holidays mean!
(Er, books. If you are me. *helpful clarification*)
-Days of the Dead, The Shirt On His Back, and Ran Away, by Barbara Hambly
Carrying on from last month's reading of Benjamin January mysteries! I still recommend them if you have any interest in good historical fiction, race relations, America, or awesome murder mysteries.
I still love Benjamin and Rose, a lot, but I was particularly excited that we got to meet Ayasha! I didn't think we ever would: her role in the books so far had just been to be January's tragic past, the reason why he left Paris when doing so would otherwise seem daft. But no, she is a real person, and an awesome person. I love that she's kickass and awesome in ways that are her own, which allow both her and Rose to shine. Neither has to suffer at the expense of the other, and I really appreciate that.
I was also kind of amused that Hambly suddenly wanted to show us her research about Mexico at the time and also trappers and Native Americans on the frontier. I mean, they're good! But the initial reasoning for getting January to both locations is hilariously paper-thin, to me!
- Apt Pupil and The Long Walk by Stephen King
Two novellas by Steven King which I read because apparently travel sometimes makes me want to read horror? I was not a massive fan of either of them, though The Long Walk is better, I thought. The image of people just walking, walking until they fell down was really creepy. (Although...what kind of crappy shoes are they wearing that they're disintegrating that soon? Or am I overthinking it?)
Apt Pupil should have been much better, I thought: the content, a secretly sadistic teenager who realises he's found an actual Nazi and then asks for lessons, has a lot more potential. But...it was creepyish, sure, but not nearly as horrifying as it should have been. I can't decide if I think that's because the atrocities committed by the Nazis were just too adult, too large, to be easily made into horror of the Stephen King kind, or because it was just the wrong length for the content and a shorter story or a full novel was actually required.
- The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green
I was told about this as a book that was brilliant but gut-wrenching. (Particularly because I've been a cancer patient, as it is marketed as a cancer weepie, which is a genre I do not read.)
And I did find it excellent, but actually not that gut wrenching? I think I come at it from a really weird place, actually - my experience is VERY different in some important ways, not least the health care system involved, and I think that maybe gave me enough of a distance to find the medical bits less distressing than I would otherwise. And the emotional stuff... was kind of literary-fied, to me, is the only way I can put it. It's not that it didn't ring true, it's just that it rang very much like a writer was focusing on Ways These People Cope and Ways These People Are Awesome And Their Lives Have Value Even If They Only Have A Short Time To Live, rather than how I felt. Which is not a bad thing! It was very good at doing its thing.
Also, I really liked Hazel, and her love for Gus made my heart clench, but I...actually didn't care about Gus that much? Possibly I am a terrible person.
- To Love And Be Wise, Brat Farrar, The Daughter of Time, and The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
I genuinely read The Daughter of Time BEFORE the historical ranting panel at MJ, people. Hee. And I enjoyed it, in that way where it really is a bit weird that the entire plot is based off the idea of "hey, his face doesn't look evil!"
The Franchise Affair is...also weird? Like, in real life it would be the most victim-blamey bullshit. Also, the attitude that Betty's sexual choices mean she's a liar is also rubbish. But I kind of like the bit at the end where Tey clearly thought "the dude should follow the woman for once!"
I liked Brat Farrar probably the best, even though I kept waiting for there to be more plot than was actually in evidence. Like, I thought that my interpretation couldn't possibly be right (maybe I have read too much Agatha Christie, whose thing is messing with audience expectations) and so I kept waiting for something to happen to make that not be true... but then I was right all along.
I also liked To Love And Be Wise, although it should clearly have been a LOT GAYER than it actually was. My overall thing is that I am glad I have finally read all these Josephine Tey, but I don't desperately want to read them again.
- Midnight Blue Light Special by Seanan Mcguire
YAAAY, NEW INCRIPTID!
I really like Verity and her ridiculous life. I also liked seeing from Sarah's point of view, though - that, her voice being sufficiently different from Verity's, and Verity's main plotlines being, er, wrapped up mean I am totally looking forward to more books about Cryptids from all sorts of people's points of view.
Verity remains vastly entertaining. I don't want to spoil it, but her response to a certain situation really makes me happy. Heee.
- Somewhere Beneath Those Waves and The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
I think I may have to give in and recognise that I really, totally love Sarah Monette.
Somewhere Beneath Those Waves is a really good short story collection. My favourites were the stories featuring the queer detectives in Babylon: particularly that they weren't a couple, they were just both kinda queer, and fighting sometimes-supernatural crime. THAT WAS KIND OF DESIGNED FOR ME. There were also some stories that were just plain beautiful, or weird, or frightening, or all three at once. I also really liked how great the women are in them: the women are important, the women have story power and meaningfulness all their own, and that is still sadly rare. The Selkie story was a stand-out to me, and the one about the woman who is taken prisoner and works with a blind librarian.
And then I read about Kyle Murchison Booth. Who is in one story in Waves, and every story of The Bone Key, and oh, socially awkward gay nerd who works in a museum that just happens to be in a universe inspired by HP Lovecraft! Be still my heart! Have a hug! Maybe that will stop you from turning into the evil necromancer that you dread! I got to the bit where it is revealed that yes, his being coded queer was totally deliberate and he really is gay and flailed, because OW. MY HEART. OW OW OW.
The Booth stories do need some more ladies who aren't evil, grotesque, and/or dead, though. There are some, and that's ace, but more would be nice.
- Among Others by Jo Walton
This was an entirely indulgent re-read because I was on holiday and this is possibly my favourite book of the last decade or so, if I had to choose. I don't, luckily! But gah, this just gets me where I live. It's a love letter to the power of books (and specifically SF&F). It's a love letter to fandom. It's about how the personal is powerful and the powerful is personal. It's got Wales in it, and love, and grief, and growing up, and families chosen and inflicted. It has the best melding of fantasy and realism I have ever seen anywhere because there is a reason for it. I am completely not rational about this book. I just love it. It speaks to my soul.
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
This was a childhood favourite I found a *cough*perfectly legal*cough* source for and decided I would read on holiday. I don't 100% know what I think - I found it both better and worse than I expected. I thought there was more plot than that... but I also hadn't appreciated how really excellent Aiken is at building atmosphere and a sense of place. I love that there's almost a feeling that it's in an alternative world, but not quiiiite. (So far? I understand there's a whole series, but I have never read them. Is Bonnie in them, anyone who's read them?) Also, I like that female friendship is what saves them, and that kindness is the book's moral compass. Aw.
- The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club and Unnatural Death, by Dorothy Sayers
Both good examples of Lord Peter Wimsey! I hadn't read them before, and they were perfect holiday reading: good, but not, like, Gaudy Night good. Frivolous enough that I was very happy to read them on holiday.
Unnatural Death also features what I believe is the origin of my favourite character after Harriet, Miss Climpson! She is amazing. This doesn't quite make the racist bits okay (I don't care if it's period accurate and Lord Peter doesn't explicitly condone the nastiness: that he doesn't say anything against it either makes this white girl reader feel icky) but it does make it worth reading anyway, I think.
- The Narcomancer by NK Jemisin
This is a short story - available for free right here! - set in the same universe as The Killing Moon. (I technically read this on April 1st? But I had got up in March, so I am putting this in March's. Possibly noone cares but me.)
This is really excellent. It's probably best if you've read the novel, but you absolutely don't need to: they aren't connected except they're in the same universe, and they say some very different things. I really liked this for many reasons, but best was that it looked a bunch of tropes in the eye and met them head on. Really good.
ETA and
raven has juuust posted excellent fic for The Narcomancer, as I was writing this! Unsurprisingly, it is ace.
I seriously can't believe it's now April, though. Who let that happen?
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/106676.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
(Er, books. If you are me. *helpful clarification*)
-Days of the Dead, The Shirt On His Back, and Ran Away, by Barbara Hambly
Carrying on from last month's reading of Benjamin January mysteries! I still recommend them if you have any interest in good historical fiction, race relations, America, or awesome murder mysteries.
I still love Benjamin and Rose, a lot, but I was particularly excited that we got to meet Ayasha! I didn't think we ever would: her role in the books so far had just been to be January's tragic past, the reason why he left Paris when doing so would otherwise seem daft. But no, she is a real person, and an awesome person. I love that she's kickass and awesome in ways that are her own, which allow both her and Rose to shine. Neither has to suffer at the expense of the other, and I really appreciate that.
I was also kind of amused that Hambly suddenly wanted to show us her research about Mexico at the time and also trappers and Native Americans on the frontier. I mean, they're good! But the initial reasoning for getting January to both locations is hilariously paper-thin, to me!
- Apt Pupil and The Long Walk by Stephen King
Two novellas by Steven King which I read because apparently travel sometimes makes me want to read horror? I was not a massive fan of either of them, though The Long Walk is better, I thought. The image of people just walking, walking until they fell down was really creepy. (Although...what kind of crappy shoes are they wearing that they're disintegrating that soon? Or am I overthinking it?)
Apt Pupil should have been much better, I thought: the content, a secretly sadistic teenager who realises he's found an actual Nazi and then asks for lessons, has a lot more potential. But...it was creepyish, sure, but not nearly as horrifying as it should have been. I can't decide if I think that's because the atrocities committed by the Nazis were just too adult, too large, to be easily made into horror of the Stephen King kind, or because it was just the wrong length for the content and a shorter story or a full novel was actually required.
- The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green
I was told about this as a book that was brilliant but gut-wrenching. (Particularly because I've been a cancer patient, as it is marketed as a cancer weepie, which is a genre I do not read.)
And I did find it excellent, but actually not that gut wrenching? I think I come at it from a really weird place, actually - my experience is VERY different in some important ways, not least the health care system involved, and I think that maybe gave me enough of a distance to find the medical bits less distressing than I would otherwise. And the emotional stuff... was kind of literary-fied, to me, is the only way I can put it. It's not that it didn't ring true, it's just that it rang very much like a writer was focusing on Ways These People Cope and Ways These People Are Awesome And Their Lives Have Value Even If They Only Have A Short Time To Live, rather than how I felt. Which is not a bad thing! It was very good at doing its thing.
Also, I really liked Hazel, and her love for Gus made my heart clench, but I...actually didn't care about Gus that much? Possibly I am a terrible person.
- To Love And Be Wise, Brat Farrar, The Daughter of Time, and The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
I genuinely read The Daughter of Time BEFORE the historical ranting panel at MJ, people. Hee. And I enjoyed it, in that way where it really is a bit weird that the entire plot is based off the idea of "hey, his face doesn't look evil!"
The Franchise Affair is...also weird? Like, in real life it would be the most victim-blamey bullshit. Also, the attitude that Betty's sexual choices mean she's a liar is also rubbish. But I kind of like the bit at the end where Tey clearly thought "the dude should follow the woman for once!"
I liked Brat Farrar probably the best, even though I kept waiting for there to be more plot than was actually in evidence. Like, I thought that my interpretation couldn't possibly be right (maybe I have read too much Agatha Christie, whose thing is messing with audience expectations) and so I kept waiting for something to happen to make that not be true... but then I was right all along.
I also liked To Love And Be Wise, although it should clearly have been a LOT GAYER than it actually was. My overall thing is that I am glad I have finally read all these Josephine Tey, but I don't desperately want to read them again.
- Midnight Blue Light Special by Seanan Mcguire
YAAAY, NEW INCRIPTID!
I really like Verity and her ridiculous life. I also liked seeing from Sarah's point of view, though - that, her voice being sufficiently different from Verity's, and Verity's main plotlines being, er, wrapped up mean I am totally looking forward to more books about Cryptids from all sorts of people's points of view.
Verity remains vastly entertaining. I don't want to spoil it, but her response to a certain situation really makes me happy. Heee.
- Somewhere Beneath Those Waves and The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
I think I may have to give in and recognise that I really, totally love Sarah Monette.
Somewhere Beneath Those Waves is a really good short story collection. My favourites were the stories featuring the queer detectives in Babylon: particularly that they weren't a couple, they were just both kinda queer, and fighting sometimes-supernatural crime. THAT WAS KIND OF DESIGNED FOR ME. There were also some stories that were just plain beautiful, or weird, or frightening, or all three at once. I also really liked how great the women are in them: the women are important, the women have story power and meaningfulness all their own, and that is still sadly rare. The Selkie story was a stand-out to me, and the one about the woman who is taken prisoner and works with a blind librarian.
And then I read about Kyle Murchison Booth. Who is in one story in Waves, and every story of The Bone Key, and oh, socially awkward gay nerd who works in a museum that just happens to be in a universe inspired by HP Lovecraft! Be still my heart! Have a hug! Maybe that will stop you from turning into the evil necromancer that you dread! I got to the bit where it is revealed that yes, his being coded queer was totally deliberate and he really is gay and flailed, because OW. MY HEART. OW OW OW.
The Booth stories do need some more ladies who aren't evil, grotesque, and/or dead, though. There are some, and that's ace, but more would be nice.
- Among Others by Jo Walton
This was an entirely indulgent re-read because I was on holiday and this is possibly my favourite book of the last decade or so, if I had to choose. I don't, luckily! But gah, this just gets me where I live. It's a love letter to the power of books (and specifically SF&F). It's a love letter to fandom. It's about how the personal is powerful and the powerful is personal. It's got Wales in it, and love, and grief, and growing up, and families chosen and inflicted. It has the best melding of fantasy and realism I have ever seen anywhere because there is a reason for it. I am completely not rational about this book. I just love it. It speaks to my soul.
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
This was a childhood favourite I found a *cough*perfectly legal*cough* source for and decided I would read on holiday. I don't 100% know what I think - I found it both better and worse than I expected. I thought there was more plot than that... but I also hadn't appreciated how really excellent Aiken is at building atmosphere and a sense of place. I love that there's almost a feeling that it's in an alternative world, but not quiiiite. (So far? I understand there's a whole series, but I have never read them. Is Bonnie in them, anyone who's read them?) Also, I like that female friendship is what saves them, and that kindness is the book's moral compass. Aw.
- The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club and Unnatural Death, by Dorothy Sayers
Both good examples of Lord Peter Wimsey! I hadn't read them before, and they were perfect holiday reading: good, but not, like, Gaudy Night good. Frivolous enough that I was very happy to read them on holiday.
Unnatural Death also features what I believe is the origin of my favourite character after Harriet, Miss Climpson! She is amazing. This doesn't quite make the racist bits okay (I don't care if it's period accurate and Lord Peter doesn't explicitly condone the nastiness: that he doesn't say anything against it either makes this white girl reader feel icky) but it does make it worth reading anyway, I think.
- The Narcomancer by NK Jemisin
This is a short story - available for free right here! - set in the same universe as The Killing Moon. (I technically read this on April 1st? But I had got up in March, so I am putting this in March's. Possibly noone cares but me.)
This is really excellent. It's probably best if you've read the novel, but you absolutely don't need to: they aren't connected except they're in the same universe, and they say some very different things. I really liked this for many reasons, but best was that it looked a bunch of tropes in the eye and met them head on. Really good.
ETA and
raven has juuust posted excellent fic for The Narcomancer, as I was writing this! Unsurprisingly, it is ace.
I seriously can't believe it's now April, though. Who let that happen?
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/106676.html. Please comment there using OpenID.