Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. The reason I picked it up was because I read The Reluctant Fundamentalist and was blown away by the lyricism of the prose and the unusual voice, and how they carried the story along at a rapid pace. This book has not impressed me in the same way, though I'm sure if I'd read it first I'd be much more satisfied.
What are you reading?
- Thread starter jennifer75
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Taking a break from fiction. Currently researching about Psychology for my book, so I am reading Psychology in Your Life. I think it is too heavy for a beginner like me.
Another month (and a new year), another procrastination post:
Recently Read:
The Realm Volume 1 (Seth Peck, fantasy/graphic novel, Nook via Hoopla): Fifteen years ago, civilization ended when orcs, goblins, dragons, and other beasts of legend flooded the world. Now, as a would-be sorcerer king bargains with dark entities for power, a jaded guide leads a band across the remnants of America's heartland, where they might end the invasion - or end all hope.
Not a bad setup, but it never rises above demonic post-apocalyptic tropes to become anything unique or engaging. The characters were bland, too many story threads were started with minimal followthrough, and it also leaned rather male.
The Black Tides of Heaven (Book 1 of the Tensorate series, JY Yang, fantasy, Kindle): Twins born to the iron-fisted Protector of the Realm may be the key to breaking her power... if they don't turn on each other as they grow up.
Some nice ideas and a very unique world, strongly influenced by Asian mythos and elemental powers, but ultimately I felt shut out of the story, unable to understand the world enough to care about it or about the characters living there.
Paper Girls Volume 5 (Brian K. Vaughan, graphic novel/sci-fi, Nook via Hoopla): The four 1980's paper girls who inadvertently stumbled into the middle of a temporal war have come centuries ahead in the corrupted timestream, to a Cleveland under the control of their chief pursuer, "Grandfather" Wari. Here, they find more danger and more questions, as hopes of returning home grow ever more dim.
Still a fast-paced and interesting series, it suffered mostly by it being so long since I read the previous installments; it took me a while to reorient, and even then I know I've forgotten some important details. Still, another enjoyable installment.
Currently Reading:
Children of Blood and Bone (Book 1 of the Legacy of Orisha series, Tomi Adeyemi, YA? fantasy, Kindle): In a world inspired by Africa, the maji race have been stripped of their power and reduced to second-class citizens under the iron fist of the king... but the rediscovery of long-lost artifacts may reawaken powers in a generation taught to fear and hate their oppressors.
Recently started this one, but so far it's an intriguing, well-paced tale in a different fantasy world.
These Broken Stars (Book 1 of the Starbound trilogy, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, YA romance/sci-fi, paperback): When a luxury liner's hyperspace drives fail, the only two survivors are Lilac, daughter of the company owner, and Tarver, a lowborn colonist soldier.
This has many good reviews, though so far I'm finding it decent-not-great; I'm hoping there's more to it than first appears, as the idea that centuries-in-the-future humans still treat daughters like property whose "virtue" is owned by Daddy is more than a little stale/disheartening. (My personal hope is that she's not just a daughter; she's some sort of clone, unbeknownst to her, explaining the excessive urge to raise her just as he himself was raised. But for the moment, I'm stuck with throwback cultural tropes in a futuristic setting.) But it's early yet, and so far the writing and characters aren't bad, though I've temporarily sidelined it because I have an Overdrive book to finish before it returns to the library.
The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben, nonfiction, Nook via Overdrive): A forester explores the fascinating, surprisingly complex life of trees and forests, and how our future on earth likely depends on them.
This is both fascinating and depressing. Fascinating, in that there's so many questions we're only now realizing we need to ask about trees and forest ecology (trees have demonstrated the ability to learn and store memories, though nobody knows how or where, for instance.) Depressing, in that we're destroying things we once again don't know anything about, and fixing a system that took thousands of years to build will take multigenerational effort on a scale humans seem incapable of pulling off. Just destroying the coastal forests is likely to create irreparable desertification of continental interiors; trees act as "water pumps" enabling clouds and life-giving rain to reach deeper into land than they would otherwise, and already ecosystems like the Amazon are showing the damage.
Recently Read:
The Realm Volume 1 (Seth Peck, fantasy/graphic novel, Nook via Hoopla): Fifteen years ago, civilization ended when orcs, goblins, dragons, and other beasts of legend flooded the world. Now, as a would-be sorcerer king bargains with dark entities for power, a jaded guide leads a band across the remnants of America's heartland, where they might end the invasion - or end all hope.
Not a bad setup, but it never rises above demonic post-apocalyptic tropes to become anything unique or engaging. The characters were bland, too many story threads were started with minimal followthrough, and it also leaned rather male.
The Black Tides of Heaven (Book 1 of the Tensorate series, JY Yang, fantasy, Kindle): Twins born to the iron-fisted Protector of the Realm may be the key to breaking her power... if they don't turn on each other as they grow up.
Some nice ideas and a very unique world, strongly influenced by Asian mythos and elemental powers, but ultimately I felt shut out of the story, unable to understand the world enough to care about it or about the characters living there.
Paper Girls Volume 5 (Brian K. Vaughan, graphic novel/sci-fi, Nook via Hoopla): The four 1980's paper girls who inadvertently stumbled into the middle of a temporal war have come centuries ahead in the corrupted timestream, to a Cleveland under the control of their chief pursuer, "Grandfather" Wari. Here, they find more danger and more questions, as hopes of returning home grow ever more dim.
Still a fast-paced and interesting series, it suffered mostly by it being so long since I read the previous installments; it took me a while to reorient, and even then I know I've forgotten some important details. Still, another enjoyable installment.
Currently Reading:
Children of Blood and Bone (Book 1 of the Legacy of Orisha series, Tomi Adeyemi, YA? fantasy, Kindle): In a world inspired by Africa, the maji race have been stripped of their power and reduced to second-class citizens under the iron fist of the king... but the rediscovery of long-lost artifacts may reawaken powers in a generation taught to fear and hate their oppressors.
Recently started this one, but so far it's an intriguing, well-paced tale in a different fantasy world.
These Broken Stars (Book 1 of the Starbound trilogy, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, YA romance/sci-fi, paperback): When a luxury liner's hyperspace drives fail, the only two survivors are Lilac, daughter of the company owner, and Tarver, a lowborn colonist soldier.
This has many good reviews, though so far I'm finding it decent-not-great; I'm hoping there's more to it than first appears, as the idea that centuries-in-the-future humans still treat daughters like property whose "virtue" is owned by Daddy is more than a little stale/disheartening. (My personal hope is that she's not just a daughter; she's some sort of clone, unbeknownst to her, explaining the excessive urge to raise her just as he himself was raised. But for the moment, I'm stuck with throwback cultural tropes in a futuristic setting.) But it's early yet, and so far the writing and characters aren't bad, though I've temporarily sidelined it because I have an Overdrive book to finish before it returns to the library.
The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben, nonfiction, Nook via Overdrive): A forester explores the fascinating, surprisingly complex life of trees and forests, and how our future on earth likely depends on them.
This is both fascinating and depressing. Fascinating, in that there's so many questions we're only now realizing we need to ask about trees and forest ecology (trees have demonstrated the ability to learn and store memories, though nobody knows how or where, for instance.) Depressing, in that we're destroying things we once again don't know anything about, and fixing a system that took thousands of years to build will take multigenerational effort on a scale humans seem incapable of pulling off. Just destroying the coastal forests is likely to create irreparable desertification of continental interiors; trees act as "water pumps" enabling clouds and life-giving rain to reach deeper into land than they would otherwise, and already ecosystems like the Amazon are showing the damage.
Finishing up Like A River Glorious (the Gold Seer trilogy, book 2), by Rae Carson today! I really love this series — it's about a girl who can magically sense and call gold, set during the California Gold Rush. There's a lot of great history and magic and beautiful writing. The first book was very reminiscent of the old Oregon Trail games, and I think I liked it better than the second one, since there was a little more action and plot in it. Nevertheless, the second one has been a good read. I'm sure I'll be reading the third book sometime this year!
Tomorrow I start The Wicked Deep, by Shea Ernshaw. It's a YA novel about a town cursed by three sisters accused of being witches, who choose boys every year and drown them as vengeance.
Tomorrow I start The Wicked Deep, by Shea Ernshaw. It's a YA novel about a town cursed by three sisters accused of being witches, who choose boys every year and drown them as vengeance.
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Since my last post, I finished:
Burial Rites, Hannah Kent. It was all right. As I said in my last post, I don’t like the narrative structure much. Writers who are wondering if too many POV shifts and too many tense shifts can be annoying ought to read this book. The rapid shifts are distracting, especially early on, when you don’t yet know who the first person narrator is (there is only one, and her perspective becomes clear eventually, but the first couple of times she appears it is completely opaque) and you don’t even know who the other characters are, or which ones the story is going to be about. Bumping from an epistolary format to a third-person past narration to a first-person present narration to a different third-person past narration is an awkward way to get a story rolling. Once past this, though, as the narrative perspectives fall into place, it’s a not-bad bit of historical fiction, with vivid evocation of time and place.
I haven’t yet finished the other historical fiction set in Iceland:
Iceland’s Bell, Halldór Laxness. It’s very enjoyable, just rather slow going. It has three parts, which I gather were originally published as three volumes, so it may also be rather long. I like the wry satirical tone of it.
I’m also rereading another historical fiction:
Hild, Nicola Griffith. I just love this one. Rich and vivid, an interesting time - the kingdom of Northumbria in the 7th century, as Edwin, the king, brings a good chunk of Britain under his standard and converts the kingdom to Christianity for political expedience. It’s an important moment in the history of Britain and Christianity and the world, and it’s told mostly through the eyes of a very smart young girl. What I love best about this book is that the main character’s power of prophecy, believed to be magic by the people around her, actually comes from good observation, good information, and good old-fashioned hard thought and deduction. I really enjoy stories in which magic isn’t; it’s quite refreshing, and it’s a very good example of a woman making use of what agency and power she has in a society run by men and ruled by physical strength.
Since my last post, I finished:
Burial Rites, Hannah Kent. It was all right. As I said in my last post, I don’t like the narrative structure much. Writers who are wondering if too many POV shifts and too many tense shifts can be annoying ought to read this book. The rapid shifts are distracting, especially early on, when you don’t yet know who the first person narrator is (there is only one, and her perspective becomes clear eventually, but the first couple of times she appears it is completely opaque) and you don’t even know who the other characters are, or which ones the story is going to be about. Bumping from an epistolary format to a third-person past narration to a first-person present narration to a different third-person past narration is an awkward way to get a story rolling. Once past this, though, as the narrative perspectives fall into place, it’s a not-bad bit of historical fiction, with vivid evocation of time and place.
I haven’t yet finished the other historical fiction set in Iceland:
Iceland’s Bell, Halldór Laxness. It’s very enjoyable, just rather slow going. It has three parts, which I gather were originally published as three volumes, so it may also be rather long. I like the wry satirical tone of it.
I’m also rereading another historical fiction:
Hild, Nicola Griffith. I just love this one. Rich and vivid, an interesting time - the kingdom of Northumbria in the 7th century, as Edwin, the king, brings a good chunk of Britain under his standard and converts the kingdom to Christianity for political expedience. It’s an important moment in the history of Britain and Christianity and the world, and it’s told mostly through the eyes of a very smart young girl. What I love best about this book is that the main character’s power of prophecy, believed to be magic by the people around her, actually comes from good observation, good information, and good old-fashioned hard thought and deduction. I really enjoy stories in which magic isn’t; it’s quite refreshing, and it’s a very good example of a woman making use of what agency and power she has in a society run by men and ruled by physical strength.
Lakey, I couldn't finish Burial Rites however hard I tried - it was just too slow, and vague as you said (and I don't normally mind a bit of vagueness). The time and place were well drawn, but I don't think the setting was for me so it couldn't carry me through. The pages of my copy had black edges IIRC though, which was cool.
I have never heard of Hild but I think it might find its way on to my TBR from your description. I'm thinking out a big semi-historical project for the future set in a place that deals with magic / mysticism but I wanted to write it realistically, and would rather rationalise these elements than try to ignore them completely. Sounds like this might be good research for that. Excellent!
As for the thread, I'm backing out guiltily now because it's the 3rd of Jan and I still haven't picked up my first book. I am beta-ing though so that's my excuse...
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.
I started this one a few years ago, and gave up. This was not an easy decision; I loved the book and the writing, but couldn't stand any of the characters. I came back to it because my current writing project follows similar plot lines in parts, and I wanted 1) to see how a successful book handled some of the elements, and 2) to make sure I wasn't unconsciously being too close to Franzen's story. I'm now past the point where I gave up, and it's going much better this time. No rip-off scenes so far, and recognizing what works for me (and doesn't--I still hate these characters, BTW. I wouldn't even have coffee with any of them!).
I started this one a few years ago, and gave up. This was not an easy decision; I loved the book and the writing, but couldn't stand any of the characters. I came back to it because my current writing project follows similar plot lines in parts, and I wanted 1) to see how a successful book handled some of the elements, and 2) to make sure I wasn't unconsciously being too close to Franzen's story. I'm now past the point where I gave up, and it's going much better this time. No rip-off scenes so far, and recognizing what works for me (and doesn't--I still hate these characters, BTW. I wouldn't even have coffee with any of them!).
Lakey - I really enjoyed Burial Rites even though it was a very depressing true story. I found the author successfully evoked an atmosphere of inhospitable isolation and despair.
Brightdreamer - I also read The Hidden Life of Trees and found it very interesting, especially about trees' contact through underground fungal organisms, but I felt the author went into unneccessary detail about botanical aspects that have been known for years (stuff I learnt about in school forty years ago). The book started very well, but then became tedious.
Brightdreamer - I also read The Hidden Life of Trees and found it very interesting, especially about trees' contact through underground fungal organisms, but I felt the author went into unneccessary detail about botanical aspects that have been known for years (stuff I learnt about in school forty years ago). The book started very well, but then became tedious.
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I just finished Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jeasica Brody. I own and have rered the original Save the Cat several times.
Now I'm taking the risk of trashing the 4K already written on the WIP and making a Save the Cat beat sheet for the whole book.
Sigh.
Send coffee. And cookies.
Now I'm taking the risk of trashing the 4K already written on the WIP and making a Save the Cat beat sheet for the whole book.
Sigh.
Send coffee. And cookies.
Just finished an older story by Octavia Butler... "Kindred." It's science fiction but not like most books in the genre. Good read, fast read, thought provoking.
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I had the good fortune to meet Octavia Butler. Splendid person, as well as brilliant writer.
But It's science fiction but not like most books in the genre. makes me wonder. Given the breadth of SF, what do you think typifies other books in the genre and makes Kindred stand out by exception?
______
Dennis
Been another month, time to procrastinate post again.
Recently Read:
Book Love (Debbie Tung, nonfiction/comics/humor, Nook via Hoopla): Artist Debbie Tung illustrates the love of books, from the smell of a new paperback to the stories inside to the frustrations of having to deal with other people in a world that inexplicably contains things that are not books.
A quick read, it obviously will appeal to bibliophiles, who can relate to most everything in the pages. It does get a little repetitious at times, though, as Tung hits the same note in very similar ways in several comics; it wouldn't have been as obvious in individual strips, but in a collection like this it stands out. Still fun, especially as a freebie through Hoopla.
Fast Focus (Damon Zahariades, organization, Kindle): In a world full of distractions, it's too easy to develop bad habits when it comes to getting things done. The author identifies common problems and offers tactics to improve productivity and focus.
This is roughly similar to a Lynda course I took from Dave "The Myth of Multitasking" Crenshaw; since I stopped my subscription, I'd been looking for a print version to refer to. Like Crenshaw, Zahariades uses simple language and steps that can be put into immediate use by most anyone. They both also debunk the notion of "multitasking," as the human brain - no matter what it thinks - just cannot effectively do two things at once, and "switchtasking" results in more attention disruption and mistakes and thus more time to do both things. It's a free Prime Reading pick on Amazon, if you have Prime, so it's worth a look if you want some tips on staying on task. (As usual, it looks easy when other people write about it...)
Fire & Heist (Sarah Beth Durst, YA fantasy, hardcover): A modern wyvern, or weredragon (though no wyverns have shapeshifted since the days if Sir Francis Drake), Sky Hawkins grew up wealthy and a minor celebrity. Then her mother botched a mysterious heist and disappeared, and her family was stripped of half its wealth and most of its influence by the Council... not to mention how it tore the heart out of her family. To get it all back, Sky means to complete her mother's last job: stealing a jewel from the most prominent wyvern clan in the region, incidentally the family of her former boyfriend.
A quick reading story of weredragons and heists and portal worlds (the wyverns originally came from a lost world/dimension known as Home, which comes into play in the story in potentially spoilery ways), it's entertaining for what it is, though the story and characters feel a trifle thin around the edges. Sky's a bit immature for her age, but she does her job in the plot well enough, as do the other characters. A light tale, which the author herself describes as "Ocean's 11 with were-dragons."
Currently Reading:
The Copper Promise (Book 1 of the Copper Cat trilogy, Jen Williams, fantasy, paperback): Sly thief Wydrin and outcast knight Sebastian are no strangers to treasure hunting, selling their blades to whoever pays the coin. But their latest job, for one outcast nobleman Lord Frith, sends them into the cursed Citadel, where it is said the gods of old were trapped by ancient mages. While Frith seeks the power to reclaim his lands from usurpers and avenge the torture that left him broken, they inadvertently unleash the last remaining god and her monstrous brood, who want nothing more than to see the whole world burn. Wydrin tries to tell herself it's not their problem, but Sebastian's honor won't let him walk away, even though to challenge a god must surely mean death.
This has been described as sword and sorcery for the 21st century, and that's a fair description so far. With obvious nods to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and other genre staples (if with more diversity and stronger women), it's an entertaining and imaginative read, a series of adventurous encounters that nonetheless are building to the climactic confrontation with the angered god. I'm past the halfway mark and enjoying every page.
Recently Read:
Book Love (Debbie Tung, nonfiction/comics/humor, Nook via Hoopla): Artist Debbie Tung illustrates the love of books, from the smell of a new paperback to the stories inside to the frustrations of having to deal with other people in a world that inexplicably contains things that are not books.
A quick read, it obviously will appeal to bibliophiles, who can relate to most everything in the pages. It does get a little repetitious at times, though, as Tung hits the same note in very similar ways in several comics; it wouldn't have been as obvious in individual strips, but in a collection like this it stands out. Still fun, especially as a freebie through Hoopla.
Fast Focus (Damon Zahariades, organization, Kindle): In a world full of distractions, it's too easy to develop bad habits when it comes to getting things done. The author identifies common problems and offers tactics to improve productivity and focus.
This is roughly similar to a Lynda course I took from Dave "The Myth of Multitasking" Crenshaw; since I stopped my subscription, I'd been looking for a print version to refer to. Like Crenshaw, Zahariades uses simple language and steps that can be put into immediate use by most anyone. They both also debunk the notion of "multitasking," as the human brain - no matter what it thinks - just cannot effectively do two things at once, and "switchtasking" results in more attention disruption and mistakes and thus more time to do both things. It's a free Prime Reading pick on Amazon, if you have Prime, so it's worth a look if you want some tips on staying on task. (As usual, it looks easy when other people write about it...)
Fire & Heist (Sarah Beth Durst, YA fantasy, hardcover): A modern wyvern, or weredragon (though no wyverns have shapeshifted since the days if Sir Francis Drake), Sky Hawkins grew up wealthy and a minor celebrity. Then her mother botched a mysterious heist and disappeared, and her family was stripped of half its wealth and most of its influence by the Council... not to mention how it tore the heart out of her family. To get it all back, Sky means to complete her mother's last job: stealing a jewel from the most prominent wyvern clan in the region, incidentally the family of her former boyfriend.
A quick reading story of weredragons and heists and portal worlds (the wyverns originally came from a lost world/dimension known as Home, which comes into play in the story in potentially spoilery ways), it's entertaining for what it is, though the story and characters feel a trifle thin around the edges. Sky's a bit immature for her age, but she does her job in the plot well enough, as do the other characters. A light tale, which the author herself describes as "Ocean's 11 with were-dragons."
Currently Reading:
The Copper Promise (Book 1 of the Copper Cat trilogy, Jen Williams, fantasy, paperback): Sly thief Wydrin and outcast knight Sebastian are no strangers to treasure hunting, selling their blades to whoever pays the coin. But their latest job, for one outcast nobleman Lord Frith, sends them into the cursed Citadel, where it is said the gods of old were trapped by ancient mages. While Frith seeks the power to reclaim his lands from usurpers and avenge the torture that left him broken, they inadvertently unleash the last remaining god and her monstrous brood, who want nothing more than to see the whole world burn. Wydrin tries to tell herself it's not their problem, but Sebastian's honor won't let him walk away, even though to challenge a god must surely mean death.
This has been described as sword and sorcery for the 21st century, and that's a fair description so far. With obvious nods to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and other genre staples (if with more diversity and stronger women), it's an entertaining and imaginative read, a series of adventurous encounters that nonetheless are building to the climactic confrontation with the angered god. I'm past the halfway mark and enjoying every page.
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I've been around this elsewhere. I've been a computer guy for decades, and one study I recall stated that the average person could handle five to seven parallel tracks at once. Beyond that, things simply got lost. This was a major source of programming errors because the programmer was trying to keep track of too many things and lost some.
Most folks who think they can multitask are fooling themselves. We can concentrate on one foreground activity at a time. When we need to switch tasks, we must save our place, switch to the new task, do something, then save our place and switch back. In computer terms, this is "stack processing", and computers do that much better than we do. There is significant overhead in context switching, and if you try to do too many tasks at once, you spend more time in context switching than you do in actually performing work. (A computer term for this was "death by thrashing" when a system was overloaded and spending all it's time switching between tasks rather than working on them.)
I tell people "Pick the most important thing you have to do and stick to it till it's done, then go on to the next thing." It's the "stick to it till it's done" that's the problem for too many folks, as there are so many attractive distractions competing for attention. (*cough* kitten videos *cough*
)______
Dennis
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Currently reading:
1. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body-Roxane Gay
2. Poisonwood Bible-Barbara Kingsolver
3. Don't Stay Up Late(Fear Street Relaunch): R.L. Stine (for a writing project)
4. Writing a Thriller-Andre Jute
5. The Riven Kingdom-Karen Miller
6. The Fifth Season-N.K. Jemisin
1. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body-Roxane Gay
2. Poisonwood Bible-Barbara Kingsolver
3. Don't Stay Up Late(Fear Street Relaunch): R.L. Stine (for a writing project)
4. Writing a Thriller-Andre Jute
5. The Riven Kingdom-Karen Miller
6. The Fifth Season-N.K. Jemisin
Since my last post, I've finished Iceland's Bell and my reread of Hild, and I have also read:
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own: Loved every wry, trenchant word of it. To a modern reader versed in the shortcomings of white feminism, it certainly reflects the scope of Woolf's purview, the educated upper-middle-class-and-above woman. But its observations on the many ways patriarchy's boot stomps on the throat of women's expression resonate more broadly than that, still, a century later.
Dorothy B Hughes, The So Blue Marble: A fun bit of pre-war suspense; that it was written by a woman is well reflected in the protagonist's concern about being polite, being likable, reconciling with her ex-husband, and not getting sexually assaulted. Contains some shining moments of excellent suspense and tension, and a dramatis personae of villains that includes a twin set of international playboys and a psychopathic teenage girl.
Walter Tevis, The Queen's Gambit: A favorite of my twelve-year-old self, reread out of nostalgia and curiosity. It's still really good, though I was surprised at the relative simplicity of the writing, and I think the author underestimates how much hostility, sexism, and sexual harassment a young woman would have faced in the world of competitive chess of the 60s and 70s.
And now I'm working my way through:
Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Mystery and Imagination: See my posts on the Short-Story Challenge thread for more details than you could possibly want.
Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter: After I read two historical novels about Iceland, Goodreads started throwing recommendations my way for all sorts of Nordic historicals. This one caught my eye, being set in medieval Norway, about which I know exactly nothing, and also being a Nobel-prize-winning novel by a woman and about a woman. There is nothing I love more than an immersive, LONG historical novel, and thus far Kristin Lavransdatter does not disappoint.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own: Loved every wry, trenchant word of it. To a modern reader versed in the shortcomings of white feminism, it certainly reflects the scope of Woolf's purview, the educated upper-middle-class-and-above woman. But its observations on the many ways patriarchy's boot stomps on the throat of women's expression resonate more broadly than that, still, a century later.
Dorothy B Hughes, The So Blue Marble: A fun bit of pre-war suspense; that it was written by a woman is well reflected in the protagonist's concern about being polite, being likable, reconciling with her ex-husband, and not getting sexually assaulted. Contains some shining moments of excellent suspense and tension, and a dramatis personae of villains that includes a twin set of international playboys and a psychopathic teenage girl.
Walter Tevis, The Queen's Gambit: A favorite of my twelve-year-old self, reread out of nostalgia and curiosity. It's still really good, though I was surprised at the relative simplicity of the writing, and I think the author underestimates how much hostility, sexism, and sexual harassment a young woman would have faced in the world of competitive chess of the 60s and 70s.
And now I'm working my way through:
Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Mystery and Imagination: See my posts on the Short-Story Challenge thread for more details than you could possibly want.
Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter: After I read two historical novels about Iceland, Goodreads started throwing recommendations my way for all sorts of Nordic historicals. This one caught my eye, being set in medieval Norway, about which I know exactly nothing, and also being a Nobel-prize-winning novel by a woman and about a woman. There is nothing I love more than an immersive, LONG historical novel, and thus far Kristin Lavransdatter does not disappoint.
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Currently reading The Stolen by Bishop O'Connell, and I'm so disappointed. The plot is interesting enough, but the writing is flat and I don't care about any of the characters. I hate not finishing a book, but reading this one is such a chore, I might have to make an exception.
I'm reading Hild, by Nicola Griffith and it's taking me forever (well, over a month so far, I've read quite a few books alongside it), and I'm racing through Sirius by Olaf Stapledon.
My wife had purchased and finished Michelle Obama's autobiography, Becoming. Finding it around the house, I picked it up and read it. Overall, I thought it was well done. The book had more personal details than politicians and their spouses normally reveal, without becoming tacky like the Newlywed Game. For instance, Mrs. Obama mentioned that she fooled around with and smoked pot with a high school boyfriend. Mrs. Obama also wrote that when she'd initially fight with her husband, she'd explode, but he'd remain calm and rational, infuriating her even more.
The only thing I disliked about the book were the final pages which were too preachy for my tastes.
The only thing I disliked about the book were the final pages which were too preachy for my tastes.
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I'm juggling 3 right now along with a book about horror writing.
The Riven Kingdom-Karen Miller
-This is book 2 in The Godspeaker Trilogy. It's a very good series if you like fantasy.
Aristotle and Dante and the Secrets of the Universe
And
My Name is Memory
The Riven Kingdom-Karen Miller
-This is book 2 in The Godspeaker Trilogy. It's a very good series if you like fantasy.
Aristotle and Dante and the Secrets of the Universe
And
My Name is Memory
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- Canada
- Website
- www.linneaheinrichs.com
Just finished Dean Wesley Smith's short book, Writing Into the Dark, and am about 1/4 through Robert J. Sawyer's, Wake.