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What Are You Reading Weekend
Sep. 22nd, 2018 11:37 amCurrently Reading: Tess Bowery, 'She Whom I Love'. Due to get stuck back into part-read academic stuff, too. I started 'At Swim, Two Boys' the other day, which I expect will take me a while.
Recently DNF'd:
Sometime in August I DNF'd 'The Last of the Bonegilla Girls' for having the narrative style and character depth of an eigth-grade empathetic writing assignment. Last night, I DNF'd Jenny Frame's 'Charming the Vicar', which I was expecting to have problems with (stilted prose; too much telling not enough showing; not enough distinct character voice). It became clear that Frame doesn't actually understand how the CoE works, especially re: ordination, or /really/ understand the cultural differences between charismatic churches and the CoE. There was the 'BDSM dynamics magically unfold with limited negotiation' thing you get in some erotica, which, fine, I can tolerate that; but not when it leads to 'using BDSM techniques to bring the athiest to God'. Just. FUCK. No. So wrong on so many levels.
Recently Finished:
Going to keep doing these weekly, until I catch up.
Sulari Gentil, A Few Right-Thinking Men: Full review posted here.
A Hope Divided by Alyssa Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really liked this one. Like its predecessor, it has a great grasp of historical detail, interesting framing plot, really well-drawn characters, and a great sparking lead romance. Also like the predecessor, at least one of the MCs is neuroatypical (although not in that awkward 'started with a diagnosis in mind and wedged it backwards in time' way - Cole definitely works upwards from atypical traits, and I wouldn't want to pin a specific diagnosis on any of them). Also like the predecessor (perhaps even more so), I felt the ending fell a little... flat. There were both bigger social Issues and unresolved (imho) issues between the couple that had me feeling Marlie would have been better off moving out and demanding he court her properly, but hey, we know I'm reluctant to accept HEA conclusions.
Meanjin Winter 2018 by Jonathan Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was slow progress - I'm not sure if that's a consistent feature of having switched to the online subscription, or just that I don't have the attention span for lit journals right now. I enjoyed Colin Bisset on the beauty of brutalism; I did not enjoy but was utterly moved by Christine Hill on working as a psychologist with children in detention. I was surprised to find myself bored by Kali Myers' 'What's in a Girl' (although her quoting outdated historical theory didn't help). Julia Kindt on nostalgia, politics and change is worth a read.
In the memoir section, I found myself infuriated by Catherine Deveney's ramblings re her son moving to Japan to finish /his/ memoir. He had, apparently, a bad experience as a high school student on exchange and is writing a memoir to exorcise that and repair his love of Japan. Which is such that he wanted to 'be japanese'. And Deveney seems to have no concept of the /huge problematics/ in that, ho hum.
I was, however, very pleased with Kelly Cheung's Children of the Tall Ships, which takes issue with Shannon Burns' valorisation of the 'bad white working class' and rips into the endemic misogyny of the environments Burns is nostalgic for. Cheung notes but doesn't address the problematic of Burns' easily excusing racism, but still. After four Meanjin issues straight featuring Burns as some kind of working class spokesman, this was a nice change.
I liked most of the poetry this edition, but MT Cronin and Peter Boyle's Lit Up Magnificently was a stand-out.
The Gilded Scarab by Anna Butler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was... uh. Hmm. Compelling character, I think; underdeveloped world-building; pacing was a bit off. But above all, it... shouldn't have been an alt-reality steampunk. The worldbuilding would have been stronger and the glaring 'uh, are we romanticising the british empire? i see we are' problem a bit less glaring if it had been a fantasy world. The fact that the MC keeps making sarcastic commentary to himself about the British plundering everything doesn't... actually fix the problem. Especially if ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE WHITE AS A WHITE THING. If you're gonna try to earn Good White Ppl Acknowledge Problematic Things points, you gotta at least have some POC characters. In 19th c london, that shouldn't be that hard.
I won't be prioritising the rest of this series, let us say.
Of White Snakes & Misshaped Owls by Debra Hyde
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Did someone order lesbian Holmes/Watson in New York, with spanking? A LOT of spanking? Because that's what this is. It's got its mission and it's ON IT.
I really like all the component ideas here, but the execution leaves something to be desired. The mystery plot itself is a bit thin. The MCs have no backstory (how did Joanna Watson go from being a nurse to Miss Olmes' companion? We just don't know) and no real character development. And... I think this part was intentional, but there's no real romantic or sexual tension. They're in an established relationship; they have all their kinks worked out; the only thing they're developing through the scenes is immediate (tension relief, 'punishing' charlotte for being brusque, etc). Because neither of them exhibit significant character development throughout, the sex scenes aren't playing any part in that, and that's... not really my jam, I guess. If you want spanking and light mystery with no angst, here's what you were looking for!
Up Next: I need to get back to some books on friendship; and I have the latest issue of The Lifted Brow waiting on my tablet.
Music notes: okay, so I listened to the Hozier release. Hozier... really has a thing for black jazz/soul singers, doesn't he? He name-dropped Nina and a few others on the last album, too. I dunno. I like the song, but there's something... odd about his use of so many black American civil rights names pinned to a video about contemporary irish activism. (There was something odd about a gay rights video pinned to a song about catholic sexual repression that was lyrically entirely hetero, too.)
I am enjoying the new Christine and the Queens album that dropped yesterday.
Recently DNF'd:
Sometime in August I DNF'd 'The Last of the Bonegilla Girls' for having the narrative style and character depth of an eigth-grade empathetic writing assignment. Last night, I DNF'd Jenny Frame's 'Charming the Vicar', which I was expecting to have problems with (stilted prose; too much telling not enough showing; not enough distinct character voice). It became clear that Frame doesn't actually understand how the CoE works, especially re: ordination, or /really/ understand the cultural differences between charismatic churches and the CoE. There was the 'BDSM dynamics magically unfold with limited negotiation' thing you get in some erotica, which, fine, I can tolerate that; but not when it leads to 'using BDSM techniques to bring the athiest to God'. Just. FUCK. No. So wrong on so many levels.
Recently Finished:
Going to keep doing these weekly, until I catch up.
Sulari Gentil, A Few Right-Thinking Men: Full review posted here.
A Hope Divided by Alyssa ColeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really liked this one. Like its predecessor, it has a great grasp of historical detail, interesting framing plot, really well-drawn characters, and a great sparking lead romance. Also like the predecessor, at least one of the MCs is neuroatypical (although not in that awkward 'started with a diagnosis in mind and wedged it backwards in time' way - Cole definitely works upwards from atypical traits, and I wouldn't want to pin a specific diagnosis on any of them). Also like the predecessor (perhaps even more so), I felt the ending fell a little... flat. There were both bigger social Issues and unresolved (imho) issues between the couple that had me feeling Marlie would have been better off moving out and demanding he court her properly, but hey, we know I'm reluctant to accept HEA conclusions.
Meanjin Winter 2018 by Jonathan GreenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was slow progress - I'm not sure if that's a consistent feature of having switched to the online subscription, or just that I don't have the attention span for lit journals right now. I enjoyed Colin Bisset on the beauty of brutalism; I did not enjoy but was utterly moved by Christine Hill on working as a psychologist with children in detention. I was surprised to find myself bored by Kali Myers' 'What's in a Girl' (although her quoting outdated historical theory didn't help). Julia Kindt on nostalgia, politics and change is worth a read.
In the memoir section, I found myself infuriated by Catherine Deveney's ramblings re her son moving to Japan to finish /his/ memoir. He had, apparently, a bad experience as a high school student on exchange and is writing a memoir to exorcise that and repair his love of Japan. Which is such that he wanted to 'be japanese'. And Deveney seems to have no concept of the /huge problematics/ in that, ho hum.
I was, however, very pleased with Kelly Cheung's Children of the Tall Ships, which takes issue with Shannon Burns' valorisation of the 'bad white working class' and rips into the endemic misogyny of the environments Burns is nostalgic for. Cheung notes but doesn't address the problematic of Burns' easily excusing racism, but still. After four Meanjin issues straight featuring Burns as some kind of working class spokesman, this was a nice change.
I liked most of the poetry this edition, but MT Cronin and Peter Boyle's Lit Up Magnificently was a stand-out.
The Gilded Scarab by Anna ButlerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was... uh. Hmm. Compelling character, I think; underdeveloped world-building; pacing was a bit off. But above all, it... shouldn't have been an alt-reality steampunk. The worldbuilding would have been stronger and the glaring 'uh, are we romanticising the british empire? i see we are' problem a bit less glaring if it had been a fantasy world. The fact that the MC keeps making sarcastic commentary to himself about the British plundering everything doesn't... actually fix the problem. Especially if ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE WHITE AS A WHITE THING. If you're gonna try to earn Good White Ppl Acknowledge Problematic Things points, you gotta at least have some POC characters. In 19th c london, that shouldn't be that hard.
I won't be prioritising the rest of this series, let us say.
Of White Snakes & Misshaped Owls by Debra HydeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Did someone order lesbian Holmes/Watson in New York, with spanking? A LOT of spanking? Because that's what this is. It's got its mission and it's ON IT.
I really like all the component ideas here, but the execution leaves something to be desired. The mystery plot itself is a bit thin. The MCs have no backstory (how did Joanna Watson go from being a nurse to Miss Olmes' companion? We just don't know) and no real character development. And... I think this part was intentional, but there's no real romantic or sexual tension. They're in an established relationship; they have all their kinks worked out; the only thing they're developing through the scenes is immediate (tension relief, 'punishing' charlotte for being brusque, etc). Because neither of them exhibit significant character development throughout, the sex scenes aren't playing any part in that, and that's... not really my jam, I guess. If you want spanking and light mystery with no angst, here's what you were looking for!
Up Next: I need to get back to some books on friendship; and I have the latest issue of The Lifted Brow waiting on my tablet.
Music notes: okay, so I listened to the Hozier release. Hozier... really has a thing for black jazz/soul singers, doesn't he? He name-dropped Nina and a few others on the last album, too. I dunno. I like the song, but there's something... odd about his use of so many black American civil rights names pinned to a video about contemporary irish activism. (There was something odd about a gay rights video pinned to a song about catholic sexual repression that was lyrically entirely hetero, too.)
I am enjoying the new Christine and the Queens album that dropped yesterday.