What Are You Reading Wednesday
Jun. 5th, 2019 06:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentricCurrently Reading:
Fiction: The collection 'A Hand of Knaves', in which I have a story. Technically, Redwall.
I've just started The Well of Loneliness - having caught up to target in project 'read more books by poc/minority ethnic/global-non-white authors', I figured I might as well get back to project 'read more Problematic Queer Literature. Anyway. I vaguely remember owning a copy at some point in the past, and finding it tedious. I am not finding it tedious now! I'm about 1/6 of the way in! Stephen is seventeen, and Bad At Parties, but good at literature and greek and fencing and riding. Her father is feeling mostly vindicated in his principled informed-by-Kraft-Ebbing decision to let his hoydenous daughter pursue her interests. Her mother is feeling confused and threatened. I predict a Drama in the offing, and it will probably involve the prospect of Oxford or Cambridge.
Lit Mag: Still Meanjin summer 2018! Finished a couple of memoir pieces, which will show up in the link posts.
Academic: Nothing
Other non-fiction: Zip and zilch.
Recently Finished:
Let Us Dream by Alyssa Cole
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was engaging, and historically rooted. Alyssa Cole is one of the few m/f authors I reliably enjoy, and this is true to form in terms of good character dynamic, romantic and sexual tension, and not leaning heavily into over-wrought het tropes. It's a bit short (I seem to be saying that a lot lately. Clearly novellas are not my jam right now), and I'm not entirely happy with the resolution- the disparity between the two MC's social/political/immigration status, which is drawn pretty tight in the initial tension, completely disappears rather than being resolved.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked this! It's a nice change to see a Hero On An Outward Quest (very Joseph Campbell, at least at the start) who isn't an everyman, but a very specific girl, and one who has always been outstanding in her community context. The setting is fascinating, and I have So Many Questions. The dominant cultural group in Binti's life is not her own Himba people, but the Khoush, who are pretty obviously based on contemporary Arabs. All the other humans (and there are few of them) at the prestigious Oomza Uni (... why, when Binti's dialect is otherwise American-English inflected, and British have no apparent cultural footprint left on Earth in her day, is this school known to humans as Oomza Uni?) are Khoush. The disappearance of Europeans from Sci Fi earth seems fair enough, but what happened to China? India? South America? That doesn't strike me as a decision Okorofor took *accidentally*, but I can't find her commenting anywhere on it.
Home by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Has Second Book syndrome. It's mostly a bridge, setting up for book 3 - it does good character work, but not enough plotwork to really support what book 3 is trying to do.
The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Book 1 was a good novella. Book 2 had Second Book Syndrome setting up for book 3, and book 3 is trying to be an epic trilogy conclusion, despite neither of the previous two having been on an epic scale. All the worldbuilding and character points I liked from the first book remain, but the structure isn't great. And I remain super annoyed with one *specific* plot point, regarding ambassadorial status granted to a character who is totally unequipped for it, leading to mayhem. It just seems deeply unlikely for Mega Space Civilisations of the Future, although I realise that kind of thing happens in Star Trek all the time, and these books are in several key ways a narrative kin-type to Star Trek.
In addition, the romantic plotline was a half-baked addition, which seemed to serve only the purpose of assuring us that the Brilliant Exceptional Woman is not unattractive to men. The actual young man involved had next to no character and very little motivation. I *did* like that the eventual relationship structure was some kind of quadrilateral, though.
Flight to Coorah Creek by Janet Gover
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Having DNF'd a bunch of books on very specific ideological grounds lately, I was kind of tempted to wash my hands of this one on discovering the MC and her love interest and indeed pretty much everyone else in the story are direct employees of a uranium mine. I didn't, though, and if nothing else this book does pretty convincingly demonstrate some of the reasons northern Australian communities are so very deeply attached to resource mining - namely, the mine pays for a hospital and air ambulance service.
However. The book utterly failed to convince me that the love interest is a good doctor, or an honourable man, or a reliable partner. Their initial bad start is exacerbated by his 'devotion to his work' meaning he hasn't realised he's getting a female pilot, or arranged accommodation, and so on, and he continues on like that throughout the book. Devotion to work at the expense of the admin that would make him a good employer does not suggest good things about his likelihood of having any time for relationship maintenance as a partner.
*Both* characters are carrying 'dark secrets', and they carry them with a deeply implausible level of shame. I guess I can grant the love interest credence, given it's to do with childhood trauma, but the MC? Her whole thing involves having been accidentally caught up in a crime, and turned prosecution witness. She somehow believes people in general and her love interest in particular can *never forgive her*. I could almost swallow that if the book hadn't doubled down on it and had him confirm that, when it's a _fundamentally ridiculous viewpoint for any medical professional to have_, let alone one working in rural and remote communities. Having no compassion for a. people caught in illegality because of their loved ones or b. substance abuse - honestly. What? That, combined with an offhand comment about hating being a doctor in the city and having to treat the 'worried well', really torpedoed my respect for him. Fuck you, too, sir.
Finally, it's a book set *in a Uranium mining town* in FNQ. There are indigenous characters popping up as bit-parts. A key character is a nun working 'with the aboriginal people'. But the town itself apparently contains entirely white people? No people of mixed descent? No indigenous mine workers? (Indigenous employment schemes are usually a condition of resource mining grants in Aus) No traditional owners with objections to the mine??? I think only one of the indigenous bit-part characters even got a name.
This has been a negative review! And yet. I did read it straight through in one go, so, uh, it's got a reasonably tight plot?
Online Fiction
Hiromi Kawakami, trans. Alison Markin Powell, In the Grass. Kawakami's 'The ten loves of (Mr) Nishino' (title varies between UK and US editions of the English translation) is released this week, and I think I wish to read more.
Up Next:
Murderbot is on the agenda for book club later this month.
Music Notes:
Prompted, I think, by bedlamsbard, I have been listening to The Civil Wars on Spotify. I really like their cover of 'dance me to the end of love'.
Fiction: The collection 'A Hand of Knaves', in which I have a story. Technically, Redwall.
I've just started The Well of Loneliness - having caught up to target in project 'read more books by poc/minority ethnic/global-non-white authors', I figured I might as well get back to project 'read more Problematic Queer Literature. Anyway. I vaguely remember owning a copy at some point in the past, and finding it tedious. I am not finding it tedious now! I'm about 1/6 of the way in! Stephen is seventeen, and Bad At Parties, but good at literature and greek and fencing and riding. Her father is feeling mostly vindicated in his principled informed-by-Kraft-Ebbing decision to let his hoydenous daughter pursue her interests. Her mother is feeling confused and threatened. I predict a Drama in the offing, and it will probably involve the prospect of Oxford or Cambridge.
Lit Mag: Still Meanjin summer 2018! Finished a couple of memoir pieces, which will show up in the link posts.
Academic: Nothing
Other non-fiction: Zip and zilch.
Recently Finished:
Let Us Dream by Alyssa ColeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was engaging, and historically rooted. Alyssa Cole is one of the few m/f authors I reliably enjoy, and this is true to form in terms of good character dynamic, romantic and sexual tension, and not leaning heavily into over-wrought het tropes. It's a bit short (I seem to be saying that a lot lately. Clearly novellas are not my jam right now), and I'm not entirely happy with the resolution- the disparity between the two MC's social/political/immigration status, which is drawn pretty tight in the initial tension, completely disappears rather than being resolved.
Binti by Nnedi OkoraforMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked this! It's a nice change to see a Hero On An Outward Quest (very Joseph Campbell, at least at the start) who isn't an everyman, but a very specific girl, and one who has always been outstanding in her community context. The setting is fascinating, and I have So Many Questions. The dominant cultural group in Binti's life is not her own Himba people, but the Khoush, who are pretty obviously based on contemporary Arabs. All the other humans (and there are few of them) at the prestigious Oomza Uni (... why, when Binti's dialect is otherwise American-English inflected, and British have no apparent cultural footprint left on Earth in her day, is this school known to humans as Oomza Uni?) are Khoush. The disappearance of Europeans from Sci Fi earth seems fair enough, but what happened to China? India? South America? That doesn't strike me as a decision Okorofor took *accidentally*, but I can't find her commenting anywhere on it.
Home by Nnedi OkoraforMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Has Second Book syndrome. It's mostly a bridge, setting up for book 3 - it does good character work, but not enough plotwork to really support what book 3 is trying to do.
The Night Masquerade by Nnedi OkoraforMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Book 1 was a good novella. Book 2 had Second Book Syndrome setting up for book 3, and book 3 is trying to be an epic trilogy conclusion, despite neither of the previous two having been on an epic scale. All the worldbuilding and character points I liked from the first book remain, but the structure isn't great. And I remain super annoyed with one *specific* plot point, regarding ambassadorial status granted to a character who is totally unequipped for it, leading to mayhem. It just seems deeply unlikely for Mega Space Civilisations of the Future, although I realise that kind of thing happens in Star Trek all the time, and these books are in several key ways a narrative kin-type to Star Trek.
In addition, the romantic plotline was a half-baked addition, which seemed to serve only the purpose of assuring us that the Brilliant Exceptional Woman is not unattractive to men. The actual young man involved had next to no character and very little motivation. I *did* like that the eventual relationship structure was some kind of quadrilateral, though.
Flight to Coorah Creek by Janet GoverMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Having DNF'd a bunch of books on very specific ideological grounds lately, I was kind of tempted to wash my hands of this one on discovering the MC and her love interest and indeed pretty much everyone else in the story are direct employees of a uranium mine. I didn't, though, and if nothing else this book does pretty convincingly demonstrate some of the reasons northern Australian communities are so very deeply attached to resource mining - namely, the mine pays for a hospital and air ambulance service.
However. The book utterly failed to convince me that the love interest is a good doctor, or an honourable man, or a reliable partner. Their initial bad start is exacerbated by his 'devotion to his work' meaning he hasn't realised he's getting a female pilot, or arranged accommodation, and so on, and he continues on like that throughout the book. Devotion to work at the expense of the admin that would make him a good employer does not suggest good things about his likelihood of having any time for relationship maintenance as a partner.
*Both* characters are carrying 'dark secrets', and they carry them with a deeply implausible level of shame. I guess I can grant the love interest credence, given it's to do with childhood trauma, but the MC? Her whole thing involves having been accidentally caught up in a crime, and turned prosecution witness. She somehow believes people in general and her love interest in particular can *never forgive her*. I could almost swallow that if the book hadn't doubled down on it and had him confirm that, when it's a _fundamentally ridiculous viewpoint for any medical professional to have_, let alone one working in rural and remote communities. Having no compassion for a. people caught in illegality because of their loved ones or b. substance abuse - honestly. What? That, combined with an offhand comment about hating being a doctor in the city and having to treat the 'worried well', really torpedoed my respect for him. Fuck you, too, sir.
Finally, it's a book set *in a Uranium mining town* in FNQ. There are indigenous characters popping up as bit-parts. A key character is a nun working 'with the aboriginal people'. But the town itself apparently contains entirely white people? No people of mixed descent? No indigenous mine workers? (Indigenous employment schemes are usually a condition of resource mining grants in Aus) No traditional owners with objections to the mine??? I think only one of the indigenous bit-part characters even got a name.
This has been a negative review! And yet. I did read it straight through in one go, so, uh, it's got a reasonably tight plot?
Online Fiction
Hiromi Kawakami, trans. Alison Markin Powell, In the Grass. Kawakami's 'The ten loves of (Mr) Nishino' (title varies between UK and US editions of the English translation) is released this week, and I think I wish to read more.
Up Next:
Murderbot is on the agenda for book club later this month.
Music Notes:
Prompted, I think, by bedlamsbard, I have been listening to The Civil Wars on Spotify. I really like their cover of 'dance me to the end of love'.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-04 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-04 11:37 pm (UTC)Oh, you misunderstand me! At a previous time I owned it and didn’t read it because it seemed boring- I’m loving it now!
no subject
Date: 2019-06-05 01:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-05 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-05 10:25 pm (UTC)I know about her Reluctant Royals f/f. I don't read her contemporaries, I tried a few times and bounced super hard off them. If there's a forthcoming historical I might check it out, but I found her last f/f historical kind of... bland.