Booklog 8: A vista of words
We've officially entered September, so it's time for another booklog. I'm going to be a student as well as working full time this coming academic year, so I expect my random reading to go down a lot from about this point: I'm glad I managed to get some in before it all hits for real.
- The Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood
Another Miss Fisher mystery. This one is featured in the show, so I knew exactly who did it and how, but it's played a little differently in the book and I really enjoyed that. Plus, PHRYNE FLYING A PLANE. And she owns a she-wee. I cannot even. Even better: Dot's response to the she-wee. I adore Dot forever. She s the best. I love that juuuust when you think Dot might tip over the edge into overly moralistic or whatever, you come straight up against Dot's inner practicality and kindness. I love it.
And Phryne of course is a joy - the descriptions of her flying, and how she feels about the wilderness, are just so well done. Excellent.
- Let The Right One In by John Avjide Lindquist
Famous vampire book. I enjoyed it; it actually is a bit of an interesting take on vampires, which I tend to think is hard to do interestingly at this point. However there is SUCH a weird take on the gayness or not-gayness of the romance element that I don't even know what to think about any of the rest. If anyone has any idea what on earth Lindquist was getting at there, I'd be glad to hear.
- American On Purpose by Craig Ferguson
This is a celebrity memoir, not a genre I tend to read much of because my taste in fluff literature is much more on the genre-fiction side of things (as anyone reading this booklog for more than half a second could probably guess). I read this one though because the new Doctor on Doctor Who is Peter Capaldi, who I love, and Peter Capaldi happens to be IN this book. He and Craig Ferguson are old friends, and I remember a while back seeing the Capaldi interview on Ferguson's show where they talk and how I then thought "Oh, I should check out his book, that actually sounds good fun".
And it is! It has very little to say about America, really, but it has a lot to say about Glasgow in the 70s and 80s and it has a lot to say about addiction. And Ferguson can definitely put words together in a very readable way. I found it mostly excellent. It's not at all for anyone who doesn't want to read about someone else's headlong drop into addiction, though. It's not at all moralistic about it - and honestly, I now know why Capaldi called it "brave" in the interview I saw, because Ferguson does not flinch from saying "yeah, I did some shitty, shitty things". It also doesn't say "and then they lived happily ever after". But it does say that coming through the worst to find something better on the other side is possible, and so I didn't find it too depressing.
- The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
This is maybe my favourite thing by Monette, and for some reason I can't remember now - possibly just seeing the name Kyle somewhere? - I decided to re-read this collection of stories about the sad life of Kyle Murchison Booth.
Who omg, speaks to me. He's a queer nerd with sleeping problems, massive social awkwardness, and a whole lot of bad luck, and I just love him and want to hug him better. (This would not be a good idea, but, y'know.) I love that he has such a hard time, and responds believably to that with sadness and anger and frustration, but he still troops on, finding the beauty and solace he can. He doesn't like finding social interaction so difficult, but he tries, and he carries on. He works hard. He has coping mechanisms. And he tries to find the beauty and empathy in the world, because he knows how rare and precious those things are. Knows how easily he could be denied them himself.
Basically: these are classic spine-chiller horror stories, but Kyle Murchison Booth elevates them for me so much. Love them.
- Redheads At The Chalet School, The Chalet School In Exile, Lavender Laughs At The Chalet School, Chalet School Wins The Trick, New House At The Chalet School, A Leader In The Chalet School, Genius At The Chalet School, Joey Goes To The Oberland, Jo Returns To The Chalet School and Exploits of the Chalet Girls by Elinor M Brent Dyer
I still find these really fun, although I'm slowing down now on my re-read. Partly because damn, there are a LOT of these, and they do get a bit same-y if you bulk read them, but also because 1. apparently I never read the versions with racial slurs in before, and Jesus, I kind of wish I hadn't now, because that's not okay AT ALL, and 2. I hadn't felt before quuuuite how weird their going to Guernsey is? Like, if you want to run from Nazis, and it's the late thirties/early forties, THE CHANNEL ISLANDS should not be your first port of call.
The books do get some points back for me by saying, first, that English girls are foreigners if they're in countries not England. I think it's incredible that that was ever a revolutionary thing to say, but the books make it very, very clear that it WAS: to have Len, a true moral authority in the text, say, "no, you can't call the people who were born here 'foreigners', you're on their turf, you are the foreigner here, shut it" is clearly something the text feels the need to justify and explain. It expects to be called on it, to have the readers be confused by it... and she does it anyway. I do like that. And second, while the treatment of Nazis generally is, uh, less than realistic, the text very explicitly differentiates Nazis from Germans, and also doesn't hide the idea that a lot of it was very specifically anti-Jewish persecution which tied in to populist anti-Semitism. That's actually a lot better than a bunch of stuff manages even now.
It's still definitely popcorn, though. :)
- The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu
This starts off reading like Israeli YA/teen fiction, about girls growing up and finding boyfriends and stuff. It's not - or at least it's not just that. I was glad, because given the ongoing political situation and the fact I genuinely didn't know what it was about when I first started reading it, it had started feeling more and more inappropriate and maybe even offensive. However it became clearer that it wasn't looking at a lot of the subject matter uncritically. The characters start out not thinking about their wider world, but they soon have to.
I actually still don't feel like I have clear thoughts on it other than "that really awful traumatic bit is really awful and traumatic, right?" I kind of felt like that was the point; to talk about some of the things depicted as being taken for granted by young Israelis who grow up with them as assumptions. But a bunch of it also seemed oddly unreal, and I don't know where the lines are in this context, so I am mostly glad I read it as being interesting.
- Flying In Place by Susan Palwick
I read this because I heard Palwick was good. She is! However, I had no idea what it was about, so the whole child abuse topic rather took me by surprise. I don't know if I'd have read it had I known that in advance...but I'm actually kind of glad I did, despite the depressingness, because she handled it in a way I mostly thought was good and I found her really readable. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with other stories too.
(The ghost element I ended up being less sure of - but it wasn't how that sort of thing usually gets handled, so that was ok.)
- Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
I was reminded by someone mentioning this that there existed a DWJ I had not read. So I did. It's very very DWJ: a strong central idea done entertainingly and well with some fun characterisation and plot. Incredibly readable. I liked the main girl much better than the main character himself, but I was quite happy because it was clearly deliberate... and the dog POV stuff is so entertaining!
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/145516.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
- The Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood
Another Miss Fisher mystery. This one is featured in the show, so I knew exactly who did it and how, but it's played a little differently in the book and I really enjoyed that. Plus, PHRYNE FLYING A PLANE. And she owns a she-wee. I cannot even. Even better: Dot's response to the she-wee. I adore Dot forever. She s the best. I love that juuuust when you think Dot might tip over the edge into overly moralistic or whatever, you come straight up against Dot's inner practicality and kindness. I love it.
And Phryne of course is a joy - the descriptions of her flying, and how she feels about the wilderness, are just so well done. Excellent.
- Let The Right One In by John Avjide Lindquist
Famous vampire book. I enjoyed it; it actually is a bit of an interesting take on vampires, which I tend to think is hard to do interestingly at this point. However there is SUCH a weird take on the gayness or not-gayness of the romance element that I don't even know what to think about any of the rest. If anyone has any idea what on earth Lindquist was getting at there, I'd be glad to hear.
- American On Purpose by Craig Ferguson
This is a celebrity memoir, not a genre I tend to read much of because my taste in fluff literature is much more on the genre-fiction side of things (as anyone reading this booklog for more than half a second could probably guess). I read this one though because the new Doctor on Doctor Who is Peter Capaldi, who I love, and Peter Capaldi happens to be IN this book. He and Craig Ferguson are old friends, and I remember a while back seeing the Capaldi interview on Ferguson's show where they talk and how I then thought "Oh, I should check out his book, that actually sounds good fun".
And it is! It has very little to say about America, really, but it has a lot to say about Glasgow in the 70s and 80s and it has a lot to say about addiction. And Ferguson can definitely put words together in a very readable way. I found it mostly excellent. It's not at all for anyone who doesn't want to read about someone else's headlong drop into addiction, though. It's not at all moralistic about it - and honestly, I now know why Capaldi called it "brave" in the interview I saw, because Ferguson does not flinch from saying "yeah, I did some shitty, shitty things". It also doesn't say "and then they lived happily ever after". But it does say that coming through the worst to find something better on the other side is possible, and so I didn't find it too depressing.
- The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
This is maybe my favourite thing by Monette, and for some reason I can't remember now - possibly just seeing the name Kyle somewhere? - I decided to re-read this collection of stories about the sad life of Kyle Murchison Booth.
Who omg, speaks to me. He's a queer nerd with sleeping problems, massive social awkwardness, and a whole lot of bad luck, and I just love him and want to hug him better. (This would not be a good idea, but, y'know.) I love that he has such a hard time, and responds believably to that with sadness and anger and frustration, but he still troops on, finding the beauty and solace he can. He doesn't like finding social interaction so difficult, but he tries, and he carries on. He works hard. He has coping mechanisms. And he tries to find the beauty and empathy in the world, because he knows how rare and precious those things are. Knows how easily he could be denied them himself.
Basically: these are classic spine-chiller horror stories, but Kyle Murchison Booth elevates them for me so much. Love them.
- Redheads At The Chalet School, The Chalet School In Exile, Lavender Laughs At The Chalet School, Chalet School Wins The Trick, New House At The Chalet School, A Leader In The Chalet School, Genius At The Chalet School, Joey Goes To The Oberland, Jo Returns To The Chalet School and Exploits of the Chalet Girls by Elinor M Brent Dyer
I still find these really fun, although I'm slowing down now on my re-read. Partly because damn, there are a LOT of these, and they do get a bit same-y if you bulk read them, but also because 1. apparently I never read the versions with racial slurs in before, and Jesus, I kind of wish I hadn't now, because that's not okay AT ALL, and 2. I hadn't felt before quuuuite how weird their going to Guernsey is? Like, if you want to run from Nazis, and it's the late thirties/early forties, THE CHANNEL ISLANDS should not be your first port of call.
The books do get some points back for me by saying, first, that English girls are foreigners if they're in countries not England. I think it's incredible that that was ever a revolutionary thing to say, but the books make it very, very clear that it WAS: to have Len, a true moral authority in the text, say, "no, you can't call the people who were born here 'foreigners', you're on their turf, you are the foreigner here, shut it" is clearly something the text feels the need to justify and explain. It expects to be called on it, to have the readers be confused by it... and she does it anyway. I do like that. And second, while the treatment of Nazis generally is, uh, less than realistic, the text very explicitly differentiates Nazis from Germans, and also doesn't hide the idea that a lot of it was very specifically anti-Jewish persecution which tied in to populist anti-Semitism. That's actually a lot better than a bunch of stuff manages even now.
It's still definitely popcorn, though. :)
- The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu
This starts off reading like Israeli YA/teen fiction, about girls growing up and finding boyfriends and stuff. It's not - or at least it's not just that. I was glad, because given the ongoing political situation and the fact I genuinely didn't know what it was about when I first started reading it, it had started feeling more and more inappropriate and maybe even offensive. However it became clearer that it wasn't looking at a lot of the subject matter uncritically. The characters start out not thinking about their wider world, but they soon have to.
I actually still don't feel like I have clear thoughts on it other than "that really awful traumatic bit is really awful and traumatic, right?" I kind of felt like that was the point; to talk about some of the things depicted as being taken for granted by young Israelis who grow up with them as assumptions. But a bunch of it also seemed oddly unreal, and I don't know where the lines are in this context, so I am mostly glad I read it as being interesting.
- Flying In Place by Susan Palwick
I read this because I heard Palwick was good. She is! However, I had no idea what it was about, so the whole child abuse topic rather took me by surprise. I don't know if I'd have read it had I known that in advance...but I'm actually kind of glad I did, despite the depressingness, because she handled it in a way I mostly thought was good and I found her really readable. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with other stories too.
(The ghost element I ended up being less sure of - but it wasn't how that sort of thing usually gets handled, so that was ok.)
- Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
I was reminded by someone mentioning this that there existed a DWJ I had not read. So I did. It's very very DWJ: a strong central idea done entertainingly and well with some fun characterisation and plot. Incredibly readable. I liked the main girl much better than the main character himself, but I was quite happy because it was clearly deliberate... and the dog POV stuff is so entertaining!
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/145516.html. Please comment there using OpenID.