What Are You Reading Weekend
Jun. 2nd, 2018 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentricCurrently Reading: Latest Archer mag (last of my subscription); Simone de Beauvoir's Memoires d'une jeune fille rangée; Melissa Gira Grant's Playing the Whore; Classen's Erotic Tales of Medieval Germany; and Charlotte Bronte's Villette.
Plus a lot of grading. A LOT.
Recently finished:
Meanjin Autumn 2018 by Jonathan Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
First on my digital-only subscription. As I expected, it's less rewarding to read this way - not least because I can't log in for subscriber content on Safari on my phone (reasons unknown). The layout of the contents page online is by content type, rather than in page order, and I found I missed the mixture effect.
Of note:
Omar Sakr Any Percentage of a Heart. It makes me deeply uncomfortable, for Reasons, but it's a good essay.
Grace Moore, The road-makers eat meat three times a day, an interesting essay on Trollope, early australian diets, and other interesting things. Neat little section commenting on how to use and misuse Marx by applying him to texts that predate him.
Jennifer Mills, Seeing Landscape, a really fascinating essay on landscape painting, motherhood and daughterhood, trees, and lazarus taxons. Among other things. I know a student of the guy who invented the term 'lazarus taxon' - I hope he is enjoying the fact that his term has escaped biology and is being used in art essays.
Anthony Lowenstein, My Jewish Atheist Journey - should be required reading, tbh
As usual, I wanted to set the Shannon Burns piece on fire. Wasn't super taken with the fiction or poetry this time.
The endnote essay, Ford and Heino the song remains the same was neat and sent me scrambling to seek out the song in question.
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a pretty decent read. It's set on one of the high school exams I'm grading, and it's definitely a good choice for that age group. I've seen Laurie Halse Anderson remarked upon as one of the white people who generally gets it right, and as far as I can tell that seems to be the case.
HOWEVER.
What drove me BATS about this book was the erratic, inconsistent use of 18th century linguistic features. Every so often an 'I saw him not', without actually shifting the overall grammar of the text. Not even observing a distinction between narration and dialogue, which would be one way to present the bulk of the novel in readable modern prose but have Flavour. Just occasional sprinkles of archaisms, largely in negations. And then halfway through the book a a scattering of nouns creep in - i'm not sure if they're aave or just regionalisms, like 'remembery' for memory. Inexplicably appears halfway through the book, still sprinkled on with no actual integration into the main narration.
If you can't do historical dialect right*, don't do it at all. (*right for these purposes not necessarily meaning 'completely accurate', but not this either)
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A palate cleanser after the awkward historical dialect of Chains. Excellent read: the non-love plot is complex enough to sustain interest, the romance plot sparkles, and bonus points for giving the female protag a male best friend and a trusted male colleague as well as a love interest. I ended wanting to be a skeptical cynic about the future of the relationship - ESPECIALLY given their intended joint career. But I always feel cynical about HEAs.
Cooking on a Bootstrap: Over 100 simple, budget recipes by Jack Monroe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It remains to be seen, but on first read this book seems less /interesting/ than ‘A year in 100 recipes’ but more useful- likely as useful as A Girl Called Jack.
Overland Issue 229 by Jacinda Woodhead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Quite good - possibly the most enjoyable Overland of my subscription. Good, interesting essays on anti-terrosim law, indigenous incarceration, and euthanasia among other things.
Do recommend:
We need more mediocre women, Maura Edmond and Jasmine McGowan (essay)
After the Festival, Fiona Wright (poem)
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Well, this is certainly a compelling portrait of an adolescent in a major mental health crisis who has no idea that's what he's having.
View all my reviews
In addition, DNF'd Sutcliffe's 'Are You Experienced' - I'll skim through various bits alongside matu grading, but in addition to it being an annoying book about white kids being annoying in India, the description of Our Protagonist volunteering to massage his 'just friends' female companion & lusting after her all the while & firmly believing she's lying or playing games in the just-friends part... well. I have been that girl. I did not find I could either laugh at how clueless Our Protag is OR at how daft she is for putting herself in that situation. It bothered me.
Up next: I have 26 hard copy books unread on my bedside shelves. They need to go, or be read, or be packed, in under two months. Literally any of them would be a good life choice at this point.
Other reading/ online recs:
Overland blog, The death of a 'multicultural' Australia, Mathilde Montpetit. Really interesting essay which is in part a profile of the Addison Road Centre in its heyday. Why yes, I still miss Marrickville.
Lightspeed Magazine, Cosmic Spring, Ken Liu. I've been listening to Lightspeed podcasts again. This is hard sci fi, technically, but it's delightful and whimsical in a way the genre rarely aspires to.
Electric Literature, The new Fahrenheit 451 movie fails to reckon with Bradbury's racism, Katie Naum. Made me feel better for disliking the book.
Lightspeed Magazine, You do nothing but freefall, Cassandra Khaw and A. Maus. This is super cute magical realism/sci-fi/thingy. Involving a magic maneki-neko.
Music notes:
I bought a Stacey Kent album, after having seen her in concert, and I am enjoying it. Particularly the songs that have Ishiguro lyrics.
Today's you-won-your-chore-chart present to self is pre-ordering Amy Shark's 'Love Monster': I'm enjoying the two singles so far. Kind of Megan Washington-y in flavour?
In the Computer Death I lost about three months of my itunes library - which is fine, I had backups or could re-download things. But I lost the play count evidence of some of my binge-listens over the past few months, which is annoying me exactly as much as you'd expect. There's no evidence I binge-listened to Janelle Monae's 'Pynk'! A Problem.
Plus a lot of grading. A LOT.
Recently finished:
Meanjin Autumn 2018 by Jonathan GreenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
First on my digital-only subscription. As I expected, it's less rewarding to read this way - not least because I can't log in for subscriber content on Safari on my phone (reasons unknown). The layout of the contents page online is by content type, rather than in page order, and I found I missed the mixture effect.
Of note:
Omar Sakr Any Percentage of a Heart. It makes me deeply uncomfortable, for Reasons, but it's a good essay.
Grace Moore, The road-makers eat meat three times a day, an interesting essay on Trollope, early australian diets, and other interesting things. Neat little section commenting on how to use and misuse Marx by applying him to texts that predate him.
Jennifer Mills, Seeing Landscape, a really fascinating essay on landscape painting, motherhood and daughterhood, trees, and lazarus taxons. Among other things. I know a student of the guy who invented the term 'lazarus taxon' - I hope he is enjoying the fact that his term has escaped biology and is being used in art essays.
Anthony Lowenstein, My Jewish Atheist Journey - should be required reading, tbh
As usual, I wanted to set the Shannon Burns piece on fire. Wasn't super taken with the fiction or poetry this time.
The endnote essay, Ford and Heino the song remains the same was neat and sent me scrambling to seek out the song in question.
Chains by Laurie Halse AndersonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a pretty decent read. It's set on one of the high school exams I'm grading, and it's definitely a good choice for that age group. I've seen Laurie Halse Anderson remarked upon as one of the white people who generally gets it right, and as far as I can tell that seems to be the case.
HOWEVER.
What drove me BATS about this book was the erratic, inconsistent use of 18th century linguistic features. Every so often an 'I saw him not', without actually shifting the overall grammar of the text. Not even observing a distinction between narration and dialogue, which would be one way to present the bulk of the novel in readable modern prose but have Flavour. Just occasional sprinkles of archaisms, largely in negations. And then halfway through the book a a scattering of nouns creep in - i'm not sure if they're aave or just regionalisms, like 'remembery' for memory. Inexplicably appears halfway through the book, still sprinkled on with no actual integration into the main narration.
If you can't do historical dialect right*, don't do it at all. (*right for these purposes not necessarily meaning 'completely accurate', but not this either)
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa ColeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A palate cleanser after the awkward historical dialect of Chains. Excellent read: the non-love plot is complex enough to sustain interest, the romance plot sparkles, and bonus points for giving the female protag a male best friend and a trusted male colleague as well as a love interest. I ended wanting to be a skeptical cynic about the future of the relationship - ESPECIALLY given their intended joint career. But I always feel cynical about HEAs.
Cooking on a Bootstrap: Over 100 simple, budget recipes by Jack MonroeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
It remains to be seen, but on first read this book seems less /interesting/ than ‘A year in 100 recipes’ but more useful- likely as useful as A Girl Called Jack.
Overland Issue 229 by Jacinda WoodheadMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Quite good - possibly the most enjoyable Overland of my subscription. Good, interesting essays on anti-terrosim law, indigenous incarceration, and euthanasia among other things.
Do recommend:
We need more mediocre women, Maura Edmond and Jasmine McGowan (essay)
After the Festival, Fiona Wright (poem)
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Well, this is certainly a compelling portrait of an adolescent in a major mental health crisis who has no idea that's what he's having.
View all my reviews
In addition, DNF'd Sutcliffe's 'Are You Experienced' - I'll skim through various bits alongside matu grading, but in addition to it being an annoying book about white kids being annoying in India, the description of Our Protagonist volunteering to massage his 'just friends' female companion & lusting after her all the while & firmly believing she's lying or playing games in the just-friends part... well. I have been that girl. I did not find I could either laugh at how clueless Our Protag is OR at how daft she is for putting herself in that situation. It bothered me.
Up next: I have 26 hard copy books unread on my bedside shelves. They need to go, or be read, or be packed, in under two months. Literally any of them would be a good life choice at this point.
Other reading/ online recs:
Overland blog, The death of a 'multicultural' Australia, Mathilde Montpetit. Really interesting essay which is in part a profile of the Addison Road Centre in its heyday. Why yes, I still miss Marrickville.
Lightspeed Magazine, Cosmic Spring, Ken Liu. I've been listening to Lightspeed podcasts again. This is hard sci fi, technically, but it's delightful and whimsical in a way the genre rarely aspires to.
Electric Literature, The new Fahrenheit 451 movie fails to reckon with Bradbury's racism, Katie Naum. Made me feel better for disliking the book.
Lightspeed Magazine, You do nothing but freefall, Cassandra Khaw and A. Maus. This is super cute magical realism/sci-fi/thingy. Involving a magic maneki-neko.
Music notes:
I bought a Stacey Kent album, after having seen her in concert, and I am enjoying it. Particularly the songs that have Ishiguro lyrics.
Today's you-won-your-chore-chart present to self is pre-ordering Amy Shark's 'Love Monster': I'm enjoying the two singles so far. Kind of Megan Washington-y in flavour?
In the Computer Death I lost about three months of my itunes library - which is fine, I had backups or could re-download things. But I lost the play count evidence of some of my binge-listens over the past few months, which is annoying me exactly as much as you'd expect. There's no evidence I binge-listened to Janelle Monae's 'Pynk'! A Problem.