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What Are You Reading Weekend
Jan. 27th, 2018 11:28 amCurrently Reading:
For funsies: David Lodge, Therapy; Best Australian Poems 2016
For work: Virginia Wolf, Mrs Dalloway (first-year teaching); Carrie Jenkins, 'What Love Is' (this is only just barely work - I think I've got what I need for thesis purposes from the introduction, but I'm interested in the rest, so will poke at a few more chapters. Annoyingly, it's a consultation-sur-place only interlibrary loan, so I can't bring it home and read it in the evenings, unless I take photocopies.)
Recently Finished:
I'm up to five #theunreadshelfproject2018 finished (or read-as-much-as-I-intend-to-read, in the case of Surpassing the Love of Men) books, including the latest Archer, which only arrived in January but I've decided counts because it's an existing subscription.
Uses of Literature by Rita Felski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
YES GOOD. A++ SUPER USEFUL thank you Rita Felski.
The Translation Studies Reader by Lawrence Venuti
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Good, diverse book - not super useful for my purposes right now. Limited pre-modern material, although the Jerome translation is good.
Little Ship of Fools: Sixteen Rowers, One Improbable Boat, Seven Tumultuous Weeks on the Atlantic by Charles Wilkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I would not have thought to buy this book on my own, but it was given to me by a friend, and after languishing for ages on my TBR shelf, proved to be exactly what I needed in the late stage PhD grind. Wilkin's narrative voice is engaging, often amusing; the book is full of Weird and Interesting Facts - but it's not un-put-downable, and it's not going to give me Late Night Feels or a book hangover. Exactly the right book at the right time.
Women and Men as Friends: Relationships Across the Life Span in the 21st Century by Michael Monsour
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I've been working on opposite-sex friendship for FIVE YEARS and only just found this book. It changes my sense of the sociological landscape, a bit (bibliography confirms there IS work on exes-as-friends, I just couldn't find it), but fortunately my generalised conclusions about what's missing from the field (and thus is not available to help historians/lit scholars/etc) still hold up.
Surpassing The Love Of Men: Romantic Friendship And Love Between Women From The Renaissance To The Present by Lillian Faderman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Actually more useful to me than expected (including some citations on opposite-sex friendship!). As a work of scholarship, exactly what I expected: wildly generalising, often flat out wrong about late-early-modern society, deeply lesbian essentialist. Some neat historical case studies, lots of dubious interpretation.
Archer: the Family Issue by Amy Middleton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think this might be my favourite Archer yet! For whatever reason I -loved- the photo-essays and fashion spreads in this one (usually I find heavily visual material a bit off-putting, it's just me, not a criticism). Some excellent articles - the interview with Ben Law was great; the article on infidelity was well-thought-through; Zahra Stardust on sex ed demonstrations by porn performers was interesting and incisive; Darja Caspian on Iran and homophobia blended personal info, interview information, and wider stats nicely.
I thought the polyamory piece was a bit shallow. Dean Beck on HIV prevention and PrEP was interesting but - like several pieces on PrEP I've read lately - the way it talked about fear/risk/condom use limiting gay male sexuality made me want to laugh hollowly. My fellas, my dudes, let me tell you about life-threatening risks called 'pregnancy' and actually just 'men'. I dunno - I understand HIV stigma + homophobic society is a real toxic cocktail that will warp anyone's self-image, but this, and a few other pieces I've read lately, seems shot through with a sense that they, gay men, _deserve_ risk-free sex. (Also, condom-less sex with PrEP is NOT risk free, ffs).
View all my reviews
Up Next: I'm not sure. I said last time I thought I'd replace Wilkins with a longer, slower fiction book - I had in mind 'At Swim, Two Boys', but Mrs Dalloway won out because of work. I've got... a lot on my TBR that's not immediately pressing for work reasons, it's really a matter of whim.
For work reasons, the TEAMS Robin Hood anthology will be getting my attention soon (I've been browsing through it a bit already - it's hard to say when it's appropriate to mark as 'currently reading' something one is poking at in order to decide what to read!). Montaigne's essay on Friendship is also on the menu, and I guess when I finish Mrs D I need to re-read Hamlet.
Music notes: I've been doing surprisingly well at my habit charts since I got back, so new musics have been acquired! Thanks to the gf's sister over xmas I discovered there are more Corrs albums than I was aware of - I have bought 'White Light' and developed a bit of a Thing for 'Ellis Island'.
I bought Nick Cave's The Boatman's Call, which is definitely Sometimes Music, but scratches similar itches to Leonard Cohen. I don't think I ever mentioned I picked up K.D Lang's 'Recollection' late last year, and. Wow. I knew Constant Craving, but I _literally had no idea the singer was a woman_. Queer culture fail! Anyway I'm in love with it/her, and the album complements Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen quite nicely.
Also picked up late last year and featuring regularly: Icona Pop's 'This Is... Icona Pop', which I discovered on account of Kaetlyn Osmond's exhibition skate to 'I Love It' in Grenoble. I'm sufficiently Into It that I've listened to I Love It 100 times already. Mika's 'No Place In Heaven', special edition with an orchestral collab second CD - picked that up because I discovered him in a rush and wanted to own both a version of Grace Kelly (one of his older singles) and some of the new stuff (No Place In Heaven, the title track... guh)
Maksim's The Piano Player I think I've mentioned before - pop-classical fusion type stuff. In the same vein I just acquired Lindsay Stirling's 'Brave Enough' - that's pop violin. I'm pretty sure I discovered her because of figure skating, too, but I don't remember why: I just found her in my Spotify the other day and can't remember ever subscribing. Logic says someone skated to something of hers and I added the artist at once.
For funsies: David Lodge, Therapy; Best Australian Poems 2016
For work: Virginia Wolf, Mrs Dalloway (first-year teaching); Carrie Jenkins, 'What Love Is' (this is only just barely work - I think I've got what I need for thesis purposes from the introduction, but I'm interested in the rest, so will poke at a few more chapters. Annoyingly, it's a consultation-sur-place only interlibrary loan, so I can't bring it home and read it in the evenings, unless I take photocopies.)
Recently Finished:
I'm up to five #theunreadshelfproject2018 finished (or read-as-much-as-I-intend-to-read, in the case of Surpassing the Love of Men) books, including the latest Archer, which only arrived in January but I've decided counts because it's an existing subscription.
Uses of Literature by Rita FelskiMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
YES GOOD. A++ SUPER USEFUL thank you Rita Felski.
The Translation Studies Reader by Lawrence VenutiMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Good, diverse book - not super useful for my purposes right now. Limited pre-modern material, although the Jerome translation is good.
Little Ship of Fools: Sixteen Rowers, One Improbable Boat, Seven Tumultuous Weeks on the Atlantic by Charles WilkinsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I would not have thought to buy this book on my own, but it was given to me by a friend, and after languishing for ages on my TBR shelf, proved to be exactly what I needed in the late stage PhD grind. Wilkin's narrative voice is engaging, often amusing; the book is full of Weird and Interesting Facts - but it's not un-put-downable, and it's not going to give me Late Night Feels or a book hangover. Exactly the right book at the right time.
Women and Men as Friends: Relationships Across the Life Span in the 21st Century by Michael MonsourMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I've been working on opposite-sex friendship for FIVE YEARS and only just found this book. It changes my sense of the sociological landscape, a bit (bibliography confirms there IS work on exes-as-friends, I just couldn't find it), but fortunately my generalised conclusions about what's missing from the field (and thus is not available to help historians/lit scholars/etc) still hold up.
Surpassing The Love Of Men: Romantic Friendship And Love Between Women From The Renaissance To The Present by Lillian FadermanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Actually more useful to me than expected (including some citations on opposite-sex friendship!). As a work of scholarship, exactly what I expected: wildly generalising, often flat out wrong about late-early-modern society, deeply lesbian essentialist. Some neat historical case studies, lots of dubious interpretation.
Archer: the Family Issue by Amy MiddletonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think this might be my favourite Archer yet! For whatever reason I -loved- the photo-essays and fashion spreads in this one (usually I find heavily visual material a bit off-putting, it's just me, not a criticism). Some excellent articles - the interview with Ben Law was great; the article on infidelity was well-thought-through; Zahra Stardust on sex ed demonstrations by porn performers was interesting and incisive; Darja Caspian on Iran and homophobia blended personal info, interview information, and wider stats nicely.
I thought the polyamory piece was a bit shallow. Dean Beck on HIV prevention and PrEP was interesting but - like several pieces on PrEP I've read lately - the way it talked about fear/risk/condom use limiting gay male sexuality made me want to laugh hollowly. My fellas, my dudes, let me tell you about life-threatening risks called 'pregnancy' and actually just 'men'. I dunno - I understand HIV stigma + homophobic society is a real toxic cocktail that will warp anyone's self-image, but this, and a few other pieces I've read lately, seems shot through with a sense that they, gay men, _deserve_ risk-free sex. (Also, condom-less sex with PrEP is NOT risk free, ffs).
View all my reviews
Up Next: I'm not sure. I said last time I thought I'd replace Wilkins with a longer, slower fiction book - I had in mind 'At Swim, Two Boys', but Mrs Dalloway won out because of work. I've got... a lot on my TBR that's not immediately pressing for work reasons, it's really a matter of whim.
For work reasons, the TEAMS Robin Hood anthology will be getting my attention soon (I've been browsing through it a bit already - it's hard to say when it's appropriate to mark as 'currently reading' something one is poking at in order to decide what to read!). Montaigne's essay on Friendship is also on the menu, and I guess when I finish Mrs D I need to re-read Hamlet.
Music notes: I've been doing surprisingly well at my habit charts since I got back, so new musics have been acquired! Thanks to the gf's sister over xmas I discovered there are more Corrs albums than I was aware of - I have bought 'White Light' and developed a bit of a Thing for 'Ellis Island'.
I bought Nick Cave's The Boatman's Call, which is definitely Sometimes Music, but scratches similar itches to Leonard Cohen. I don't think I ever mentioned I picked up K.D Lang's 'Recollection' late last year, and. Wow. I knew Constant Craving, but I _literally had no idea the singer was a woman_. Queer culture fail! Anyway I'm in love with it/her, and the album complements Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen quite nicely.
Also picked up late last year and featuring regularly: Icona Pop's 'This Is... Icona Pop', which I discovered on account of Kaetlyn Osmond's exhibition skate to 'I Love It' in Grenoble. I'm sufficiently Into It that I've listened to I Love It 100 times already. Mika's 'No Place In Heaven', special edition with an orchestral collab second CD - picked that up because I discovered him in a rush and wanted to own both a version of Grace Kelly (one of his older singles) and some of the new stuff (No Place In Heaven, the title track... guh)
Maksim's The Piano Player I think I've mentioned before - pop-classical fusion type stuff. In the same vein I just acquired Lindsay Stirling's 'Brave Enough' - that's pop violin. I'm pretty sure I discovered her because of figure skating, too, but I don't remember why: I just found her in my Spotify the other day and can't remember ever subscribing. Logic says someone skated to something of hers and I added the artist at once.