What Are You Reading (Not On A) Wednesday
Aug. 25th, 2019 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentricCurrently Reading:
Fiction: Roxanne Gay, Difficult Women; technically also The Three Musketeers, bilingually and desultorily
Poetry: John Milton, Paradise Lost, via Anthony Oliviera's podcast The Devil's Party; Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
Non-Fiction: Gluten-free Girl Everyday, still.
Lit Mag: I haven't touched TLB 41 for a while, but technically, that.
Recently Finished:
Growing Up Queer in Australia by Benjamin Law
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed and appreciated this book, and powered through it at a fair clip. There's a lot in here that's affirming (although personally, I would have appreciated a little more substantial engagement with non-monogamy alongside the predictable-given-the-context stress on marriage equality, impact of), and a lot that's warm, and humourous and very human. Ben Law describes this as the book he wished he had had available to read as a teen, a book for the in-community. I kind of wonder about its impact as an out-group text: I know I tend, when faced with complex stuff that's Out of My Lane, to go looking for anthologies, and that's helped me process big debates and put my foot in things less often. But then, I would have voraciously read this book as a teenager *who considered themselves straight* and had Weirdly Strong Feelings about the tough lives of queer people, so. In this case (unlike, say, race), out-group is always potentially in-group.
Content-wise, as you'd expect with Ben Law at the helm there's a decent ethnic/racial/cultural mix of contributions. Law obviously also went to considerable effort to catch a maximum range of ages: in addition to narrative contributions there are a handful of interviews between Law and key queer community figures, including both William Yang and Georgie Stone. There was also one essay directly addressing queer experience of a physically disabled person, as well as many touching on mental health.
One thing that did strike me as odd is that none of the contributors had been in the care system, nor was homelessness addressed. Given that queer youth have the highest rates of homelessness of any youth demographic, and that experience of kids in care is really distinct from the experience of kids with their birth families or in organically-arisen kinship care, that seemed... a bit of an oversight.
Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
FitzChivalry Farseer continues to be a fuckboy. Burrich is The Best and I will fight anyone who disagrees. With the power of foresight (aka my hazy memories of last time I read these) I'm also really enjoying the slow changes in Patience's character.
Up Next:
The third Farseer book, I guess. I have RF Kuang's The Poppy War from the library, and Ali Smith's Spring. Also a handful of books posted ahead to me from the UK. I'm about to head up to Cairns next weekend, and I think that flight will be dedicated to AJ Demas' latest.
Music notes: I've mostly been enjoying the fact that (in the car at least) I can access 105.3 New FM again. Mum's been playing a Spotify playlist of Aussie classics, which also pleases me.
I bought the Lizzo album that came out a while back, though! And I listened to the TSwift (spotify) and wasn't immediately impressed. I suspect it would grow on me if given a chance, but I'm not sure I feel compelled to give that chance.
Fiction: Roxanne Gay, Difficult Women; technically also The Three Musketeers, bilingually and desultorily
Poetry: John Milton, Paradise Lost, via Anthony Oliviera's podcast The Devil's Party; Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
Non-Fiction: Gluten-free Girl Everyday, still.
Lit Mag: I haven't touched TLB 41 for a while, but technically, that.
Recently Finished:
Growing Up Queer in Australia by Benjamin LawMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed and appreciated this book, and powered through it at a fair clip. There's a lot in here that's affirming (although personally, I would have appreciated a little more substantial engagement with non-monogamy alongside the predictable-given-the-context stress on marriage equality, impact of), and a lot that's warm, and humourous and very human. Ben Law describes this as the book he wished he had had available to read as a teen, a book for the in-community. I kind of wonder about its impact as an out-group text: I know I tend, when faced with complex stuff that's Out of My Lane, to go looking for anthologies, and that's helped me process big debates and put my foot in things less often. But then, I would have voraciously read this book as a teenager *who considered themselves straight* and had Weirdly Strong Feelings about the tough lives of queer people, so. In this case (unlike, say, race), out-group is always potentially in-group.
Content-wise, as you'd expect with Ben Law at the helm there's a decent ethnic/racial/cultural mix of contributions. Law obviously also went to considerable effort to catch a maximum range of ages: in addition to narrative contributions there are a handful of interviews between Law and key queer community figures, including both William Yang and Georgie Stone. There was also one essay directly addressing queer experience of a physically disabled person, as well as many touching on mental health.
One thing that did strike me as odd is that none of the contributors had been in the care system, nor was homelessness addressed. Given that queer youth have the highest rates of homelessness of any youth demographic, and that experience of kids in care is really distinct from the experience of kids with their birth families or in organically-arisen kinship care, that seemed... a bit of an oversight.
Royal Assassin by Robin HobbMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
FitzChivalry Farseer continues to be a fuckboy. Burrich is The Best and I will fight anyone who disagrees. With the power of foresight (aka my hazy memories of last time I read these) I'm also really enjoying the slow changes in Patience's character.
Up Next:
The third Farseer book, I guess. I have RF Kuang's The Poppy War from the library, and Ali Smith's Spring. Also a handful of books posted ahead to me from the UK. I'm about to head up to Cairns next weekend, and I think that flight will be dedicated to AJ Demas' latest.
Music notes: I've mostly been enjoying the fact that (in the car at least) I can access 105.3 New FM again. Mum's been playing a Spotify playlist of Aussie classics, which also pleases me.
I bought the Lizzo album that came out a while back, though! And I listened to the TSwift (spotify) and wasn't immediately impressed. I suspect it would grow on me if given a chance, but I'm not sure I feel compelled to give that chance.