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What Are You Reading Weekend
Sep. 16th, 2018 02:37 pmCurrently Reading: Catherynne M Valente's 'Palimpsest', which is Quite Odd. Issue 38 of The Lifted Brow. I think that's about it, right now.
Recently Finished:
Not actually all that recent - this is catchup from August.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a fascinating, atmospheric read. It both disconcerted and fascinated me with its mixed genre cues - there's gothic in there, of course, but I wasn't expecting to be reminded of DH Lawrence or Evelyn Waugh. Modernist gothic? Fascinating.
The strategy of never naming the protagonist is a striking one, as is the begin-beyond-the-ending one. They both seem so old, in the opening narration; it's a shock to realise that the protagonist is young, and the opening narration is only a few years after the events of the main plot.
It's also a disconcerting book to FINISH when one is on a plane, and when one got on that plane, one had not long found out that a barely-controlled bushfire near one's ancestral abode was getting worse and jumping the backburns. I have ISSUES with fire, partly thanks to a too-early encounter with Jane Eyre, and this book cuts so close to Eyre in places.
The Apothecary's Poison by C.J. Archer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
There's nothing /wrong/ with this book, but there's nothing really strikingly good about it either. And it failed to keep me interested in the larger arc of the series. I don't think I'll be prioritising the rest of this series.
Malory Towers Collection 1: Books 1-3 by Enid Blyton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
(review stands for Collection 2 as well) When I was home we got out the first book for my sister, who was less interested in it than I was. I ended up buying the e-books (apparently I didn't own all of them growing up???), and powered through them all in the tail end of my Australia trip.
There was a lot to love about them, again - gentle wit, warm sense of community, plus the new-for-me experience of reading them with a subsequent knowledge of Harry Potter and discovering the genre cues HP was sending early in the series.
I knew it was all very jolly hockey sticks, group cohesion - I remember that much. What I was utterly flummoxed by was how very hostile the whole series is to individual excellence. Some of the characters excoriated for Not Fitting In are just plain spoiled (Gwendoline); one is erroneously convinced she has a talent she does not (Zerelda). But many of the Object Lesson characters are genuinely talented - Mavis and Amanda stand out particularly. They have gifts beyond ordinary talent, and in order to be rehabilitated into a good Malory Towers Girl they must not only learn to be less arrogant (fair) but be completely robbed of their skills - brought down a peg, physically and mentally. Even Alicia has to be humiliated in the GCSE. Our Heroines have talent, but not outstanding gifts; the talented girls who are most acceptable (Irene and Belinda) are so because they can turn their skills to the use of others, and because they /also/ play tennis and generally jolly hockey sticks about.
I just. I cannot believe that I read this and loved this and /wanted to go there/ as a child. The underlying ideology of conformity is so striking on re-reading as an adult.
Erotic Tales of Medieval Germany by Albrecht Classen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm not sure why this took so long for me to read (just as I'm not sure why I'd owned it for so long without reading it). I loved Dietrich von der Glezze's The Belt, but I knew that - I'd interlibrary loaned just that chapter long ago. Plenty of other fun bits - several variations on the 'give me your Euphemism / give it back to you again' joke. A lot of sexist tropes, of course, but that's par for the course with medieval fabliau and related genres.
View all my reviews
Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Fun enough, but essentially felt like a mashup of Monstrous Regiment with shades of Raymond E Feist. I'm all for pastiche, but Monstrous Regiment rather has the ground cornered for this particular subset of pastiche.
Up Next: Well, I'm now ensconced in Darkest Lancashire, with a drastically shortened to-read pile in hard copy, but a fair few accumulated on my Kobo. So. Something. 'Sometimes We Tell the Truth', perhaps.
Music notes: no new fixations of late. Last night I went with friend L to the village festival, which after 6pm was a live concert. Mixed quality - there was a lineup of three middle-aged men, two in ponchos and one dressed for 70s glam, who were pretty good. An absolutely tedious pair of Mancunian lads doing Ed Sheeran covers - I didn't think it was possible to FIND two such laddish lads so keen on James May, Ed Sheeran, et al. The headliners were an outfit from Oxford called The White Lights, who I can't track down anywhere online. I liked their guitar-driven style - had a certain 90s flavour to it, nice work. They were, however, afflicted by very tedious lyrics.
A nice thing about live music at the village festival is it's perfectly acceptable to wander away halfway through a set because it's past your bedtime, and indeed, you will bump into your new neighbours on the way home.
Recently Finished:
Not actually all that recent - this is catchup from August.
Rebecca by Daphne du MaurierMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a fascinating, atmospheric read. It both disconcerted and fascinated me with its mixed genre cues - there's gothic in there, of course, but I wasn't expecting to be reminded of DH Lawrence or Evelyn Waugh. Modernist gothic? Fascinating.
The strategy of never naming the protagonist is a striking one, as is the begin-beyond-the-ending one. They both seem so old, in the opening narration; it's a shock to realise that the protagonist is young, and the opening narration is only a few years after the events of the main plot.
It's also a disconcerting book to FINISH when one is on a plane, and when one got on that plane, one had not long found out that a barely-controlled bushfire near one's ancestral abode was getting worse and jumping the backburns. I have ISSUES with fire, partly thanks to a too-early encounter with Jane Eyre, and this book cuts so close to Eyre in places.
The Apothecary's Poison by C.J. ArcherMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
There's nothing /wrong/ with this book, but there's nothing really strikingly good about it either. And it failed to keep me interested in the larger arc of the series. I don't think I'll be prioritising the rest of this series.
Malory Towers Collection 1: Books 1-3 by Enid BlytonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
(review stands for Collection 2 as well) When I was home we got out the first book for my sister, who was less interested in it than I was. I ended up buying the e-books (apparently I didn't own all of them growing up???), and powered through them all in the tail end of my Australia trip.
There was a lot to love about them, again - gentle wit, warm sense of community, plus the new-for-me experience of reading them with a subsequent knowledge of Harry Potter and discovering the genre cues HP was sending early in the series.
I knew it was all very jolly hockey sticks, group cohesion - I remember that much. What I was utterly flummoxed by was how very hostile the whole series is to individual excellence. Some of the characters excoriated for Not Fitting In are just plain spoiled (Gwendoline); one is erroneously convinced she has a talent she does not (Zerelda). But many of the Object Lesson characters are genuinely talented - Mavis and Amanda stand out particularly. They have gifts beyond ordinary talent, and in order to be rehabilitated into a good Malory Towers Girl they must not only learn to be less arrogant (fair) but be completely robbed of their skills - brought down a peg, physically and mentally. Even Alicia has to be humiliated in the GCSE. Our Heroines have talent, but not outstanding gifts; the talented girls who are most acceptable (Irene and Belinda) are so because they can turn their skills to the use of others, and because they /also/ play tennis and generally jolly hockey sticks about.
I just. I cannot believe that I read this and loved this and /wanted to go there/ as a child. The underlying ideology of conformity is so striking on re-reading as an adult.
Erotic Tales of Medieval Germany by Albrecht ClassenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm not sure why this took so long for me to read (just as I'm not sure why I'd owned it for so long without reading it). I loved Dietrich von der Glezze's The Belt, but I knew that - I'd interlibrary loaned just that chapter long ago. Plenty of other fun bits - several variations on the 'give me your Euphemism / give it back to you again' joke. A lot of sexist tropes, of course, but that's par for the course with medieval fabliau and related genres.
View all my reviews
Nine Goblins by T. KingfisherMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Fun enough, but essentially felt like a mashup of Monstrous Regiment with shades of Raymond E Feist. I'm all for pastiche, but Monstrous Regiment rather has the ground cornered for this particular subset of pastiche.
Up Next: Well, I'm now ensconced in Darkest Lancashire, with a drastically shortened to-read pile in hard copy, but a fair few accumulated on my Kobo. So. Something. 'Sometimes We Tell the Truth', perhaps.
Music notes: no new fixations of late. Last night I went with friend L to the village festival, which after 6pm was a live concert. Mixed quality - there was a lineup of three middle-aged men, two in ponchos and one dressed for 70s glam, who were pretty good. An absolutely tedious pair of Mancunian lads doing Ed Sheeran covers - I didn't think it was possible to FIND two such laddish lads so keen on James May, Ed Sheeran, et al. The headliners were an outfit from Oxford called The White Lights, who I can't track down anywhere online. I liked their guitar-driven style - had a certain 90s flavour to it, nice work. They were, however, afflicted by very tedious lyrics.
A nice thing about live music at the village festival is it's perfectly acceptable to wander away halfway through a set because it's past your bedtime, and indeed, you will bump into your new neighbours on the way home.
