What Are You Reading Weekend
Nov. 25th, 2017 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentricWhat Are You Reading: I'm making some headway on the second Locke Lamora book; ploughing through more of Sensible Moyen Âge. I put Little Ship of Fools, the book about rowing the atlantic, aside for a while.
Recently Finished:
Hamilton's Battalion: A Trio of Romances by Courtney Milan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a really engaging collection, even if you do not - and I don't - do Hamilton fandom and don't care much about the American revolution. The Courtney Milan was, as I had been lead to expect, my least favourite (a bit too... light, i think, compared to the others), but still pretty good. The Rose Lerner one was VERY FAB, oh my, and the Alyssa Cole sweet and engaging
Let It Shine by Alyssa Cole
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I really liked the first half set-up and was very meh about the second half. Historically super interesting, engaging lead pair, but not enough sustained conflict in the romantic plot and far too much epilogue tailing off at the end.
Spring Flowering by Farah Mendlesohn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved this a lot - but I could have loved it more. I adored Our Heroine (those who recall my problems with Persuasion and wanting to hear about the older sister who managed the accounts will not be surprised), I loved the setting and the web of supporting characters and the way that Anne's prior passionate friendship remains part of the picture.
I just. Didn't really grok the main ship. Or I did, but I wanted it further developed. I love the way it was worked out: keep everything in the family, guys, family is business is marriage is life partnership. But I just... wanted more depth to the relationship throughout. They only had one major misunderstanding and it came at a relatively early stage in their relationship arc, and... ugh. Give me a thing I like and I will want it to be better, basically.
The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France by Héloïse d'Argenteuil
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was told to read this five years ago and guess what? I should have.
The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse by Héloïse d'Argenteuil
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I love Heloise, and Abelard is a sexy trainwreck arrogant KNOBHEAD. The end.
Meanjin Spring 2017 by Jonathan Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was by far the best issue for a while. I wasn't super happy with the lead essay (it is a cheap shot to blame cultural studies academics for the post-truth era, try again), but much of the rest of it I loved.
The memoir pieces in particular were great, although nb the instance of discussion of domestic and sexual abuse is higher than usual:
Sophie Curzon Smith, Ancestor Worship
Elisabeth Hanscome, All That's Forbidden
Miranda Tetlow, To Miscarry
Alexander Bennetts, Walking and Stopping and Looking and Walking
The fiction I wasn't so taken with, and I actively loathed Michael Mohammed Ahmad's piece of sexist navel-gazing, 'No Toes'.
Essays, definitely highly interesting but I had more qualms. I particularly recommend
Scott Stephens, Two Towers, on economic inequality via interesting political philosophy
Erica Nathan, Message in a Bottle, an archival history report on letters sent to CSIRO's oceanography unit.
Nick Gadd, The Signwriter and the City is a great study on a dying profession and working-class art form.
Some I had qualms with but are worth reading:
Anson Cameron's Vale Bedlam told a really interesting story of the Gatwick Hotel, but couldn't quite resist middle-class sneering
Martin Langford's The Politics of Achievement is a recognisable-to-me portrait of Australian hostility to the intellectuual, but oh my god, he seems to think the problem is we live in a meritocracy? And that those who underperform in school are embittered because the meritocracy unfairly privileges intelligence. Like. Reading his DESCRIPTIONS it's perfectly clear to me that CLASS IS A SIGIFICANT FACTOR HERE. But this seems to have gone sailing over his head. And, for a self-described intellectual and a teacher, he's worryingly unaware that while teachers might like /smart/ kids they very often only like normal-smart kids. Gifted kids, above-age-intelligent kids, are very often resented by teachers and fellow students alike. Aaargh. This essay both engaged and infuriated me.
Poetry: I recommend Eileen Chong's and Omar Sakr's Sailor's Knot
Up Next: I've got issues of Overland and Griffith Review demanding my attention, and I think it's time I started The Essex Serpent
Recently Finished:
Hamilton's Battalion: A Trio of Romances by Courtney MilanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a really engaging collection, even if you do not - and I don't - do Hamilton fandom and don't care much about the American revolution. The Courtney Milan was, as I had been lead to expect, my least favourite (a bit too... light, i think, compared to the others), but still pretty good. The Rose Lerner one was VERY FAB, oh my, and the Alyssa Cole sweet and engaging
Let It Shine by Alyssa ColeMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I really liked the first half set-up and was very meh about the second half. Historically super interesting, engaging lead pair, but not enough sustained conflict in the romantic plot and far too much epilogue tailing off at the end.
Spring Flowering by Farah MendlesohnMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved this a lot - but I could have loved it more. I adored Our Heroine (those who recall my problems with Persuasion and wanting to hear about the older sister who managed the accounts will not be surprised), I loved the setting and the web of supporting characters and the way that Anne's prior passionate friendship remains part of the picture.
I just. Didn't really grok the main ship. Or I did, but I wanted it further developed. I love the way it was worked out: keep everything in the family, guys, family is business is marriage is life partnership. But I just... wanted more depth to the relationship throughout. They only had one major misunderstanding and it came at a relatively early stage in their relationship arc, and... ugh. Give me a thing I like and I will want it to be better, basically.
The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France by Héloïse d'ArgenteuilMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was told to read this five years ago and guess what? I should have.
The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse by Héloïse d'ArgenteuilMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I love Heloise, and Abelard is a sexy trainwreck arrogant KNOBHEAD. The end.
Meanjin Spring 2017 by Jonathan GreenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was by far the best issue for a while. I wasn't super happy with the lead essay (it is a cheap shot to blame cultural studies academics for the post-truth era, try again), but much of the rest of it I loved.
The memoir pieces in particular were great, although nb the instance of discussion of domestic and sexual abuse is higher than usual:
Sophie Curzon Smith, Ancestor Worship
Elisabeth Hanscome, All That's Forbidden
Miranda Tetlow, To Miscarry
Alexander Bennetts, Walking and Stopping and Looking and Walking
The fiction I wasn't so taken with, and I actively loathed Michael Mohammed Ahmad's piece of sexist navel-gazing, 'No Toes'.
Essays, definitely highly interesting but I had more qualms. I particularly recommend
Scott Stephens, Two Towers, on economic inequality via interesting political philosophy
Erica Nathan, Message in a Bottle, an archival history report on letters sent to CSIRO's oceanography unit.
Nick Gadd, The Signwriter and the City is a great study on a dying profession and working-class art form.
Some I had qualms with but are worth reading:
Anson Cameron's Vale Bedlam told a really interesting story of the Gatwick Hotel, but couldn't quite resist middle-class sneering
Martin Langford's The Politics of Achievement is a recognisable-to-me portrait of Australian hostility to the intellectuual, but oh my god, he seems to think the problem is we live in a meritocracy? And that those who underperform in school are embittered because the meritocracy unfairly privileges intelligence. Like. Reading his DESCRIPTIONS it's perfectly clear to me that CLASS IS A SIGIFICANT FACTOR HERE. But this seems to have gone sailing over his head. And, for a self-described intellectual and a teacher, he's worryingly unaware that while teachers might like /smart/ kids they very often only like normal-smart kids. Gifted kids, above-age-intelligent kids, are very often resented by teachers and fellow students alike. Aaargh. This essay both engaged and infuriated me.
Poetry: I recommend Eileen Chong's and Omar Sakr's Sailor's Knot
Up Next: I've got issues of Overland and Griffith Review demanding my attention, and I think it's time I started The Essex Serpent