Yesterday I finished Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill. I'm honestly not too sure what to think about it. It's definitely very readable (I blew threw it very quickly) but I feel like I never really got a hold on what was really happening in the books; it seemed like as soon as I figured out what was up there was a plot twist that transformed everything and left me confused.
What are you reading?
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Just finished Max Brod's biography of Kafka. It was a great, but maybe a little stiffly written. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed learning the details of Kafka's personal life.
I finished Classic Ghost Stories by Wilkie Collins, M.R. James, Charles Dickens and Others.
I once got this book from my aunt and gave it a mere 2-star rating when I first read it. I couldn’t remember a single story I read, though, so I decided to pick it up again.
J.S. Le Fanu - An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street (1853)
Tom and his cousin Dick move in to an old mansion Tom's father bought them. Little do they know that the mansion is in fact haunted by a judge who hung himself...
This story is a classic 19th century read. Even though it's a ghost story, it's still reserved. It's creepy, but not too much. The use of language is delicate and clean. This story is also a little bit predictable. But I don't really feel fair saying that, since we're living two centuries later and this might have been modern back when it got published. I did enjoy reading it, though. It's a decent one! 2,5/5
Charles Dickens - No. 1 Branch Line, The Signalman (1866)
A spooky story about a railway signal-man warning the narrator for a terrible accident that's about to happen... But who will be the victim?
God, yes! This story creeped me out right at the end. Just the way I like it. This was a good one, for sure. 3,5/5
Wilkie Collins - Mrs. Zant and the Ghost (1887)
A strange, mysterious lady is scaring Mr. Rayburn's little daughter, Lucy. The lady happens to be Mrs. Zant, a recently widowed woman whose deceased husband keeps her company. The story takes numerous twists and turns, will Mrs. Zant live to experience a happy ending?
I liked the build-up of this story, a lot! There was just so much to go with, especially in the beginning of the story. Although it didn't feel so much as a ghost story, more than a love story in itself, it sure was an enjoyable read. As the story went on, it became less clear as to what exactly happened and at the end I felt I missed something and had to look up the story (to find out I didn't miss anything and that was just how the story was). 3/5
Mrs. Henry Wood - Reality or Delusion? (1874)
Maria, a woman engaged to Daniel Ferrar, wanders around on All Soul's Day when she sees someone dear to her heart. It might so happen to be not them, but a ghost that crossed her path.
A classic. Enjoyable read. What made me like it more was the little introduction in which it is stated that this is in fact A Very True Ghost Story. The last paragraph or so concludes the story and gives a little zest to the otherwise somewhat predictable telling. 3/5
Amelia B. Edwards - The New Pass (1873)
Francis Legrice is a skeptic man, as he tells us in the beginning of our story. What happened to him we must therefore believe, as it happened in broad daylight and he is not one to tell lies. Francis escapes a horrid fate when he goes to Switzerland with his friend. But nothing can convince him that ghosts really do exist.
A nice story, but it felt a little rushed. The ending was quite disappointing. Where is the action? This could have gone a more interesting way... 2,5/5
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Body-Snatcher (1884)
Fettes studies medicine and is in an anatomy class given by Mr. K-. Fettes finds out the bodies are come by foul play and confronts the class assistant. When he gets a strange task, things go terribly wrong...
Yes! This is the thing! Scary, creepy, unbelieveable. This is the stuff. 4/5
Fitz-James O'Brien - What Was It? (1859)
Harry tells us a story of what happened to him in his haunted house. Filled with action and terror, he tells us about the night he got attacked by an invisible Enigma.
The story builds up nicely, flows just like it should and has a twist-ending. 3,5/5
Henry James - The Real Right Thing (1900)
Ashton Doyne leaves his wife a widow. She decides to write down his biography. But is that the right thing to do?
This was just decent. A little boring even. I didn't get captivated, I even had to try my very best to keep reading. It's a no for me. 1/5
M.R. James - "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad!" (1904)
Parkins is on holiday when he finds a whistle. Little does he know that by blowing it, he invites a guest he will not soon forget about.
This story was fun to read! It had some scary elements and was rather funny in the end. I liked it. 3,5/5
Ralph A. Cram - In Kropfsberg Keep (1895)
Rupert and Otto go on a ghost-hunting excursion in Germany. They learn about the horrors Kropfsberg Keep holds and experience those themselves...
Gory, eerie, made me think Don't Do That, You Fools! Multiple times. 3,5/5
Mary E. Wilkins - The Lost Ghost (1903)
A little girl shows up again and again, looking for her mother. This story tells us what happened to her and why she is all alone.
Yes! They saved the best for last! A sweet, sad ghost story that creeped me out. I could see the child right in front of me. Loved it. 4,5/5
Considering everything, I enjoyed reading these classic ghost stories. Some elements keep coming back (a skeptic main character, a reserved way of telling the story, abrupt endings,...) which is interesting to observe. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in literature and history itself, because a lot can be learned from the late 19th/early 20th century culture by reading these tales. Don't expect to be so creeped out you can't sleep, though, but you sure will be entertained. 3/5
I once got this book from my aunt and gave it a mere 2-star rating when I first read it. I couldn’t remember a single story I read, though, so I decided to pick it up again.
J.S. Le Fanu - An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street (1853)
Tom and his cousin Dick move in to an old mansion Tom's father bought them. Little do they know that the mansion is in fact haunted by a judge who hung himself...
This story is a classic 19th century read. Even though it's a ghost story, it's still reserved. It's creepy, but not too much. The use of language is delicate and clean. This story is also a little bit predictable. But I don't really feel fair saying that, since we're living two centuries later and this might have been modern back when it got published. I did enjoy reading it, though. It's a decent one! 2,5/5
Charles Dickens - No. 1 Branch Line, The Signalman (1866)
A spooky story about a railway signal-man warning the narrator for a terrible accident that's about to happen... But who will be the victim?
God, yes! This story creeped me out right at the end. Just the way I like it. This was a good one, for sure. 3,5/5
Wilkie Collins - Mrs. Zant and the Ghost (1887)
A strange, mysterious lady is scaring Mr. Rayburn's little daughter, Lucy. The lady happens to be Mrs. Zant, a recently widowed woman whose deceased husband keeps her company. The story takes numerous twists and turns, will Mrs. Zant live to experience a happy ending?
I liked the build-up of this story, a lot! There was just so much to go with, especially in the beginning of the story. Although it didn't feel so much as a ghost story, more than a love story in itself, it sure was an enjoyable read. As the story went on, it became less clear as to what exactly happened and at the end I felt I missed something and had to look up the story (to find out I didn't miss anything and that was just how the story was). 3/5
Mrs. Henry Wood - Reality or Delusion? (1874)
Maria, a woman engaged to Daniel Ferrar, wanders around on All Soul's Day when she sees someone dear to her heart. It might so happen to be not them, but a ghost that crossed her path.
A classic. Enjoyable read. What made me like it more was the little introduction in which it is stated that this is in fact A Very True Ghost Story. The last paragraph or so concludes the story and gives a little zest to the otherwise somewhat predictable telling. 3/5
Amelia B. Edwards - The New Pass (1873)
Francis Legrice is a skeptic man, as he tells us in the beginning of our story. What happened to him we must therefore believe, as it happened in broad daylight and he is not one to tell lies. Francis escapes a horrid fate when he goes to Switzerland with his friend. But nothing can convince him that ghosts really do exist.
A nice story, but it felt a little rushed. The ending was quite disappointing. Where is the action? This could have gone a more interesting way... 2,5/5
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Body-Snatcher (1884)
Fettes studies medicine and is in an anatomy class given by Mr. K-. Fettes finds out the bodies are come by foul play and confronts the class assistant. When he gets a strange task, things go terribly wrong...
Yes! This is the thing! Scary, creepy, unbelieveable. This is the stuff. 4/5
Fitz-James O'Brien - What Was It? (1859)
Harry tells us a story of what happened to him in his haunted house. Filled with action and terror, he tells us about the night he got attacked by an invisible Enigma.
The story builds up nicely, flows just like it should and has a twist-ending. 3,5/5
Henry James - The Real Right Thing (1900)
Ashton Doyne leaves his wife a widow. She decides to write down his biography. But is that the right thing to do?
This was just decent. A little boring even. I didn't get captivated, I even had to try my very best to keep reading. It's a no for me. 1/5
M.R. James - "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad!" (1904)
Parkins is on holiday when he finds a whistle. Little does he know that by blowing it, he invites a guest he will not soon forget about.
This story was fun to read! It had some scary elements and was rather funny in the end. I liked it. 3,5/5
Ralph A. Cram - In Kropfsberg Keep (1895)
Rupert and Otto go on a ghost-hunting excursion in Germany. They learn about the horrors Kropfsberg Keep holds and experience those themselves...
Gory, eerie, made me think Don't Do That, You Fools! Multiple times. 3,5/5
Mary E. Wilkins - The Lost Ghost (1903)
A little girl shows up again and again, looking for her mother. This story tells us what happened to her and why she is all alone.
Yes! They saved the best for last! A sweet, sad ghost story that creeped me out. I could see the child right in front of me. Loved it. 4,5/5
Considering everything, I enjoyed reading these classic ghost stories. Some elements keep coming back (a skeptic main character, a reserved way of telling the story, abrupt endings,...) which is interesting to observe. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in literature and history itself, because a lot can be learned from the late 19th/early 20th century culture by reading these tales. Don't expect to be so creeped out you can't sleep, though, but you sure will be entertained. 3/5
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Private Ivan Chokin by Vladimir Voinovich and The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin. I have great expectations for both and I'm hoping that I will be rewarded by reading them. So far, I'm just a few chapters into the former and done with the preliminaries for the latter. Here goes nothing! 
I walked into the Seattle Public Library and there was a big stack of Elton John's newly release autobiography, Me. Guess what I am reading! Very good so far for a rock star biography.
In my teens, I attempted a graphic novel depiction of Elton John's life (up to that point which was a long time ago) and I'm very tickled to revisit the events I put down on paper.
In my teens, I attempted a graphic novel depiction of Elton John's life (up to that point which was a long time ago) and I'm very tickled to revisit the events I put down on paper.
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The Seattle Public Library downtown is an astonishing building. And I confirmed that they have several Iris Murdoch novels in their collection, so it's all good.
Glad you're having a good time with the EJ bio. There's probably more there than I would want to know.
Right now I'm reading Anne Tyler's Digging to America. It's a quiet, character-focused novel. Really well done.
Glad you're having a good time with the EJ bio. There's probably more there than I would want to know.
Right now I'm reading Anne Tyler's Digging to America. It's a quiet, character-focused novel. Really well done.
I am reading Bad Decisions by E.M. Smith. Great Action Thriller. Also, reading Jack Hunter Headshot by Rawlin Cash.
Ooooooo, I'm liking that Elton John biography. I'll have to pick it up either via the library (if they have it) or ordering it. He's SO talented!
I'm working on Elective Affinities by Goethe. A bit of a slow start, but I'm still looking forward to reading it in entirety.
Heartland: A memoir of working hard and being broke in the richest country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh.
Smarsh is a late Gen Xer detailing her family history and experiences with rural poverty in Kansas in the 1980s and 90s. Interesting and relatable, so far (50%ish) she touches on a lot of issues I hope she ties together. Otherwise the writing is okay but she has a little trouble focusing; lots of people who run together, no theme emerging yet beyond talking about rural life, and I don't yet have a feeling that I would know her if I met her. However, this memoir has a lot of potential to say some pretty powerful stuff.
Smarsh is a late Gen Xer detailing her family history and experiences with rural poverty in Kansas in the 1980s and 90s. Interesting and relatable, so far (50%ish) she touches on a lot of issues I hope she ties together. Otherwise the writing is okay but she has a little trouble focusing; lots of people who run together, no theme emerging yet beyond talking about rural life, and I don't yet have a feeling that I would know her if I met her. However, this memoir has a lot of potential to say some pretty powerful stuff.
Since my last check-in I finished Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
This story is so well-written that it will entrance you from the very first letter. The story starts slowly, yet disturbingly, and moves further to a rather romantic and heartwarming Second Volume to show you the raw truth of solitude towards the end.
I came to love Frankenstein's "daemon", and felt I could relate to him and understand him.
Of course, Frankenstein's Monster is not all good. But is there really one to blame?
I feel this story shows how society is very well. Ruining people and the image they have of themselves, turning them into monsters... And for what?
This book made me emotional for many reasons, and Mary Shelley's marvelous way of words is one of them. I can easily say this is one of my favorite books now, and I am beyond happy that I have read it.
--in my copy there is an essay at the end: Paul Cantor's The Nightmare of Romantic Idealism. I wish it wasn't there, for it feels like it approaches the story in a kind of a negative way. Paul Cantor also focuses quite a bit on Mary Shelley's husband, which I really didn't get. He suggested that a lot of here style choices were because of her husband, and all I'm wondering now is how Cantor must think so. A woman, also a woman of the Romantic era, does have a mind of her own, you know. Skip this essay if it's in your copy as well. Trust me.--
This story is so well-written that it will entrance you from the very first letter. The story starts slowly, yet disturbingly, and moves further to a rather romantic and heartwarming Second Volume to show you the raw truth of solitude towards the end.
I came to love Frankenstein's "daemon", and felt I could relate to him and understand him.
Of course, Frankenstein's Monster is not all good. But is there really one to blame?
I feel this story shows how society is very well. Ruining people and the image they have of themselves, turning them into monsters... And for what?
This book made me emotional for many reasons, and Mary Shelley's marvelous way of words is one of them. I can easily say this is one of my favorite books now, and I am beyond happy that I have read it.
--in my copy there is an essay at the end: Paul Cantor's The Nightmare of Romantic Idealism. I wish it wasn't there, for it feels like it approaches the story in a kind of a negative way. Paul Cantor also focuses quite a bit on Mary Shelley's husband, which I really didn't get. He suggested that a lot of here style choices were because of her husband, and all I'm wondering now is how Cantor must think so. A woman, also a woman of the Romantic era, does have a mind of her own, you know. Skip this essay if it's in your copy as well. Trust me.--
PiaSophia: Frankenstein is one of my all time faves. It didn't scare me or revolt me so much as fascinated me with its examination of the relationship between people and God. How many times, just like the "monster," have I cursed my creator for making me how I am, for putting me in a life of struggle I demand he fix immediately and to my liking? It seems in our natures to curse our shortcomings and obstacles, whatever they are, and whoever and whatever we think put them there. On the other hand, does God ever, like Dr Frankenstein, get annoyed at my constant demands, and ever regret what he hath wroth? Oh, the discussions this could open up!
I am currently reading Energy by Richard Rhodes. It covers from the middle 1600s, when England began to run out of trees and turned to coal to fire the forges and heat the homes, but then needed to build steam-driven coal-fired machines to pump the water out of the mines to dig more coal, to the current day. I loved his book The Making of the Atomic Bomb, and so far Energy is delivering the plain-language scientific discussions and history that made the Atom Bomb book the gripping read it was.
I am currently reading Energy by Richard Rhodes. It covers from the middle 1600s, when England began to run out of trees and turned to coal to fire the forges and heat the homes, but then needed to build steam-driven coal-fired machines to pump the water out of the mines to dig more coal, to the current day. I loved his book The Making of the Atomic Bomb, and so far Energy is delivering the plain-language scientific discussions and history that made the Atom Bomb book the gripping read it was.
Margaret Atwood's The Testaments: The Sequel to The Handmaid's Tale . I already can't put it down.
A procrastination update whilst I wrestle with a head cold...
Recently Read:
Morning Star (Book 3 of the Red Rising Saga, Pierce Brown, SF, paperback): Six years ago, Darrow was a lowly Red miner on Mars, consumed with rage at the execution of his wife Eo, who dared to dream of a future beyond the mines and the strict Color castes of the interplanetary Society. Recruited by the rebel group Sons of Ares, his very body was remade into that of a Gold, the ruling elites; sent into the Institute of Mars, he began a brutal education as part of a plan to infiltrate and destroy Gold rulership from within... but what he found was much different, and much more brutal, than anything he could've imagined. Now, at his lowest point - tortured and imprisoned for a year by Archgovernor Adrius, the so-called Jackal of Mars - he is at last rescued by the remnants of the Sons of Ares, but can a broken Darrow lead his people to victory against an enemy who only grows stronger by the day?
This forms the end of the initial trilogy, before the saga was continued, and brings the rebellion against the Golds to a violent climax with a high body count. Like the previous books, the pace tends to be breakneck and the cruelty gruesomely detailed, with numerous personal rivalries entangled in the greater fight for freedom... a fight in which there can be no clean hands or clear moral separation between rebel and master, because that is not how wars are ever fought, let alone won. Darrow finds himself deeply disturbed by how far into the gray he must travel, all without knowing for sure whether the sacrifices made and blood shed will buy a world substantially better than the one he seeks to destroy. It's a grand, borderline grandiose finale.
Paper Girls Volume 6 (Brian K. Vaughan, MG? SF, Nook via hoopla): Four paper delivery girls in the 1980's discovered a time machine in the basement of a derelict house in their Ohio suburb... and since then have been entangled in a temporal war raging across the timestreams, flung to different times and pitted against different enemies, even learning things about their own futures that perhaps should never have been learned. Scattered into separate times, the four struggle to reunite, even as the factions of the time wars move towards a final confrontation that could save or destroy the world.
A fittingly active finale is somewhat marred by a climax that, in some ways, reduces the four girls to bystanders and invalidates a fair bit of what they fought for. Still, not a bad conclusion to a decent, fairly smart series.
Rosemary and Rue (Book 1 of the October Daye series, Seanan McGuire, fantasy, Kindle): Half-fae changeling October "Toby" Daye thought she'd struck a balance between the two halves of her life when she married a mortal man while working as a private eye, often for her faerie lord liege Sylvester... but then a case went terribly wrong and she was trapped by a curse for fourteen years. When she finally escapes, everyone - fae and human - has moved on without her. Embittered, she turns her back on everyone from her old life, scraping a living from minimum-wage jobs in San Francisco. When a former acquaintance is murdered with cold iron, the fae woman's last words bind Toby with a curse: find the killer, or be driven to madness and death. Like it or not, October Daye's back on the case, and back in the hidden worlds of San Francisco's fae.
Toby's an abrasive main character, but the story moves fast, and if it hits some familiar beats from other urban fantasies, it's at least well written, with some great descriptions and nice moments along the way. The fae here take after the older models of immortal, often amoral beings, who see humans as little more than pests or playthings; dalliances between mortal and immortal inevitably lead to tragedy all around, moreso for any changeling offspring that result. Unlike other series I've read by McGuire, though, I really don't see myself following this one any further.
Currently Reading:
Flunked (Book 1 of the Fairy Tale Reform School series, Jen Calonita, MG fantasy, Kindle): When the land's princesses defeated the witches and evil queens who tried to thwart their happily-ever-afters, everything was supposed to be... well, happily ever after. Their old nemeses even changed their ways and started a reform school to prevent others from following their wicked paths. But for people like Gilly, the cobbler's daughter, things have only gotten worse; with the Fairy Godmother making knockoff shoes at rock-bottom prices, Gilly has to steal to ensure her family has enough to eat. Only now she's been caught and sent to the Fairy Tale Reform School herself. Here, she soon discovers that all is not as it seems...
It's a light read, occasionally fun, though even for a middle grade title it feels a bit shallow, almost like it's trying too hard to appeal to modern readers with a certain pop culture veneer that doesn't quite fit other parts of the world.
Sorcerer to the Crown (Zen Cho, fantasy, paperback): The magic of England is drying up - but nobody wants the government to find out. The crown has long been wary of the thaumaturgists and their influence, even as they depend on magic for national security and dominance. The only promising student of any power in the last several years was (heavens forfend) a negro boy, but now that he has inherited the title of Sorcerer to the Crown, prejudices and animosities threaten to destroy him - along with rumors that he murdered his old mentor and master. He needs to figure out why the Fairy have been witholding magic and familiars from England, and do it fast, before the country and its mages are doomed... and before he himself is destroyed by the stiff-necked old guard who cannot tolerate a young black man holding a post they feel should have been theirs by entitlement.
The writing is a deliberate nod to Jane Austen and period works, and there is an equally deliberate sense of exaggeration to the plot and world. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it borders on tedious and exasperating; yes, we get it, Victorian England was neck-deep in classism and racism and sexism and general xenophobia, can we stop reiterating the points and move along, please? So far I'm still reading, but there's a certain distancing effect to the style that I haven't yet fully overcome.
Recently Read:
Morning Star (Book 3 of the Red Rising Saga, Pierce Brown, SF, paperback): Six years ago, Darrow was a lowly Red miner on Mars, consumed with rage at the execution of his wife Eo, who dared to dream of a future beyond the mines and the strict Color castes of the interplanetary Society. Recruited by the rebel group Sons of Ares, his very body was remade into that of a Gold, the ruling elites; sent into the Institute of Mars, he began a brutal education as part of a plan to infiltrate and destroy Gold rulership from within... but what he found was much different, and much more brutal, than anything he could've imagined. Now, at his lowest point - tortured and imprisoned for a year by Archgovernor Adrius, the so-called Jackal of Mars - he is at last rescued by the remnants of the Sons of Ares, but can a broken Darrow lead his people to victory against an enemy who only grows stronger by the day?
This forms the end of the initial trilogy, before the saga was continued, and brings the rebellion against the Golds to a violent climax with a high body count. Like the previous books, the pace tends to be breakneck and the cruelty gruesomely detailed, with numerous personal rivalries entangled in the greater fight for freedom... a fight in which there can be no clean hands or clear moral separation between rebel and master, because that is not how wars are ever fought, let alone won. Darrow finds himself deeply disturbed by how far into the gray he must travel, all without knowing for sure whether the sacrifices made and blood shed will buy a world substantially better than the one he seeks to destroy. It's a grand, borderline grandiose finale.
Paper Girls Volume 6 (Brian K. Vaughan, MG? SF, Nook via hoopla): Four paper delivery girls in the 1980's discovered a time machine in the basement of a derelict house in their Ohio suburb... and since then have been entangled in a temporal war raging across the timestreams, flung to different times and pitted against different enemies, even learning things about their own futures that perhaps should never have been learned. Scattered into separate times, the four struggle to reunite, even as the factions of the time wars move towards a final confrontation that could save or destroy the world.
A fittingly active finale is somewhat marred by a climax that, in some ways, reduces the four girls to bystanders and invalidates a fair bit of what they fought for. Still, not a bad conclusion to a decent, fairly smart series.
Rosemary and Rue (Book 1 of the October Daye series, Seanan McGuire, fantasy, Kindle): Half-fae changeling October "Toby" Daye thought she'd struck a balance between the two halves of her life when she married a mortal man while working as a private eye, often for her faerie lord liege Sylvester... but then a case went terribly wrong and she was trapped by a curse for fourteen years. When she finally escapes, everyone - fae and human - has moved on without her. Embittered, she turns her back on everyone from her old life, scraping a living from minimum-wage jobs in San Francisco. When a former acquaintance is murdered with cold iron, the fae woman's last words bind Toby with a curse: find the killer, or be driven to madness and death. Like it or not, October Daye's back on the case, and back in the hidden worlds of San Francisco's fae.
Toby's an abrasive main character, but the story moves fast, and if it hits some familiar beats from other urban fantasies, it's at least well written, with some great descriptions and nice moments along the way. The fae here take after the older models of immortal, often amoral beings, who see humans as little more than pests or playthings; dalliances between mortal and immortal inevitably lead to tragedy all around, moreso for any changeling offspring that result. Unlike other series I've read by McGuire, though, I really don't see myself following this one any further.
Currently Reading:
Flunked (Book 1 of the Fairy Tale Reform School series, Jen Calonita, MG fantasy, Kindle): When the land's princesses defeated the witches and evil queens who tried to thwart their happily-ever-afters, everything was supposed to be... well, happily ever after. Their old nemeses even changed their ways and started a reform school to prevent others from following their wicked paths. But for people like Gilly, the cobbler's daughter, things have only gotten worse; with the Fairy Godmother making knockoff shoes at rock-bottom prices, Gilly has to steal to ensure her family has enough to eat. Only now she's been caught and sent to the Fairy Tale Reform School herself. Here, she soon discovers that all is not as it seems...
It's a light read, occasionally fun, though even for a middle grade title it feels a bit shallow, almost like it's trying too hard to appeal to modern readers with a certain pop culture veneer that doesn't quite fit other parts of the world.
Sorcerer to the Crown (Zen Cho, fantasy, paperback): The magic of England is drying up - but nobody wants the government to find out. The crown has long been wary of the thaumaturgists and their influence, even as they depend on magic for national security and dominance. The only promising student of any power in the last several years was (heavens forfend) a negro boy, but now that he has inherited the title of Sorcerer to the Crown, prejudices and animosities threaten to destroy him - along with rumors that he murdered his old mentor and master. He needs to figure out why the Fairy have been witholding magic and familiars from England, and do it fast, before the country and its mages are doomed... and before he himself is destroyed by the stiff-necked old guard who cannot tolerate a young black man holding a post they feel should have been theirs by entitlement.
The writing is a deliberate nod to Jane Austen and period works, and there is an equally deliberate sense of exaggeration to the plot and world. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it borders on tedious and exasperating; yes, we get it, Victorian England was neck-deep in classism and racism and sexism and general xenophobia, can we stop reiterating the points and move along, please? So far I'm still reading, but there's a certain distancing effect to the style that I haven't yet fully overcome.
Yes, yes! That's exactly one of my thoughts when I read it. It's one of the things I related to the most, I think. I remember that, especially when I was an adolescent, I thought this often. Much like the "daemon", I was not sure yet who I was, or where I was going, what my purpose was, why I was made the way I was. And to make it a little more complex: who even made me? Was it in fact God (in Whom I then already believed, but I just wasn't sure yet in what form)? Or were it my parents, who decided I had to be born without me maybe even wanting to? I think Dr. Frankensteins relationship with his "daemon" are similar to the relationship between a parent and their child, in a way. While Dr. Frankenstein has very much a God-like role more than a parent role in the origination of the "daemon".
I loved this one as well! Happy reading!
Reading some excellent books I picked up at San Francisco's LitQuake festival including One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand by Luigi Pirandello (Spurl Editions); A Child Is Being Killed: On Primary Narcissism and the Death Drive by Serge Leclaire (Stanford Press), and the latest issue of the Santa Monica Review.
Time to catch up here. I've done quite a bit of reading since my last post.
Last time I was working on a few things that I have since finished:
Roxane Gay (ed.), Best American Short Stories 2018. I’ve posted in the short-story challenge thread about each story in this collection. Overall I quite enjoyed it and got a lot out of reading it.
Patricia Highsmith, Edith’s Diary. Gosh, I’m having a hard time processing this one and finding things to say about it. It’s a terribly sad book—a tragedy at its base, like so many of Highsmith’s books that wear the trappings of psychological thrillers but are deeply tragic. I don’t know—I keep writing sentences here and deleting them, and I have to get up and go to work, so I haven’t time to bear down and be coherent about it. I’ll write something on Goodreads once I’ve done so.
Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Like I said in my last post, Anne Tyler is a great writer, great with quirky memorable characterization and great at putting characters at quietly abrasive odds with one another. This book is a great picture of how childhood dynamics continue to play out when the family is grown.
Amitav Ghosh, The Glass Palace. Mildly disappointing historical fiction. I wrote quite a bit on Goodreads about it, but in short, it starts out very promising at the British invasion of Burma, seeming like just the kind of detailed, immersive historical fiction I love best. But it becomes episodic and indulgent, with flat characters and a rather heavy hand, and writing that is increasingly flabby as the book goes on.
Akwaeke Emezi, Freshwater. Also somewhat disappointing literary fiction; again I wrote about it on Goodreads. At its core is a very strong idea; it draws on Nigerian (specifically Igbo) traditions to frame of mental illness (or of identity crisis; it’s not really clear whether these are separate issues or the same issue) as possession by ogbanje, chaos-wreaking spirits who inhabit children to visit misfortune on their families. Unfortunately the execution is a little off; too much self-consciously poetic language that doesn’t carry enough meaning, too much repetition in story events, errors in pacing or plotting. In some ways, it reads like a very promising first draft.
And I'm working on:
Libbie Hawker, Mercer Girls. Oh, dear. I have come close to ditching this several times, and only continue due to a blatant application of the sunk-cost fallacy and wanting credit on my Goodreads challenge for having endured it. This historical fiction about a group of young women who travel from Civil-War-ravaged Lowell, MA to the frontier town of Seattle—to provide the civilizing influence of marriage on the dissolute men of that god-forsaken outpost, of course—does everything that slapdash, poor historical fiction can do to get on one’s nerves. The characters are either comical caricatures of people from the time, or inappropriately modern-thinking people dropped into the historical setting. The research is shaky—one review I read on Goodreads noted that “you put bridles on horses, not collars.” And the writing is as careless as the rest of it. Avoid.
Patricia Highsmith, Ripley Under Ground. An absolute BALM after three frustrating books in a row, let me tell you. Highsmith’s writing in this one is as silken as ever; it’s actually physically relaxing to read something crafted with such sentence-level care. This second installment in Tom Ripley’s story, I think, has less psychological complexity than the first, which was an origin story, the making of a sociopath, and had to do the work of drawing the reader into sympathy with its warped protagonist. This book, rather, presents the continuing adventures of a sociopath, and is almost a romp by comparison. Which is not to say it lacks tension, or lacks the frisson that a rational reader experiences on realizing she’s in complete sympathy with a murderer. But you’re already fully on board when you pick it up; you know who Ripley is, and you know what you’re going to get.
Jane Alison, Meander, Spiral, Explode. Wonderful book on story structure. Not a Save the Cat style guide to story structure; Alison’s not going to give you a list of story beats and tell you how to distribute them through your narrative. Rather the opposite; she invites you to look beyond such linear models of narrative, noting that the expansiveness of the novel gives you the opportunity to leave linear structures behind and instead use varied structures that themselves carry meaning or enhance or amplify the meaning in the narrative. She looks to the Modernists and to post-modern novels, their experimentations with structure, and draws in structural concepts from nature and from architecture.
Phew! Off to work. I obviously can’t let 6 weeks go by before posting here again.
Last time I was working on a few things that I have since finished:
Roxane Gay (ed.), Best American Short Stories 2018. I’ve posted in the short-story challenge thread about each story in this collection. Overall I quite enjoyed it and got a lot out of reading it.
Patricia Highsmith, Edith’s Diary. Gosh, I’m having a hard time processing this one and finding things to say about it. It’s a terribly sad book—a tragedy at its base, like so many of Highsmith’s books that wear the trappings of psychological thrillers but are deeply tragic. I don’t know—I keep writing sentences here and deleting them, and I have to get up and go to work, so I haven’t time to bear down and be coherent about it. I’ll write something on Goodreads once I’ve done so.
Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Like I said in my last post, Anne Tyler is a great writer, great with quirky memorable characterization and great at putting characters at quietly abrasive odds with one another. This book is a great picture of how childhood dynamics continue to play out when the family is grown.
Amitav Ghosh, The Glass Palace. Mildly disappointing historical fiction. I wrote quite a bit on Goodreads about it, but in short, it starts out very promising at the British invasion of Burma, seeming like just the kind of detailed, immersive historical fiction I love best. But it becomes episodic and indulgent, with flat characters and a rather heavy hand, and writing that is increasingly flabby as the book goes on.
Akwaeke Emezi, Freshwater. Also somewhat disappointing literary fiction; again I wrote about it on Goodreads. At its core is a very strong idea; it draws on Nigerian (specifically Igbo) traditions to frame of mental illness (or of identity crisis; it’s not really clear whether these are separate issues or the same issue) as possession by ogbanje, chaos-wreaking spirits who inhabit children to visit misfortune on their families. Unfortunately the execution is a little off; too much self-consciously poetic language that doesn’t carry enough meaning, too much repetition in story events, errors in pacing or plotting. In some ways, it reads like a very promising first draft.
And I'm working on:
Libbie Hawker, Mercer Girls. Oh, dear. I have come close to ditching this several times, and only continue due to a blatant application of the sunk-cost fallacy and wanting credit on my Goodreads challenge for having endured it. This historical fiction about a group of young women who travel from Civil-War-ravaged Lowell, MA to the frontier town of Seattle—to provide the civilizing influence of marriage on the dissolute men of that god-forsaken outpost, of course—does everything that slapdash, poor historical fiction can do to get on one’s nerves. The characters are either comical caricatures of people from the time, or inappropriately modern-thinking people dropped into the historical setting. The research is shaky—one review I read on Goodreads noted that “you put bridles on horses, not collars.” And the writing is as careless as the rest of it. Avoid.
Patricia Highsmith, Ripley Under Ground. An absolute BALM after three frustrating books in a row, let me tell you. Highsmith’s writing in this one is as silken as ever; it’s actually physically relaxing to read something crafted with such sentence-level care. This second installment in Tom Ripley’s story, I think, has less psychological complexity than the first, which was an origin story, the making of a sociopath, and had to do the work of drawing the reader into sympathy with its warped protagonist. This book, rather, presents the continuing adventures of a sociopath, and is almost a romp by comparison. Which is not to say it lacks tension, or lacks the frisson that a rational reader experiences on realizing she’s in complete sympathy with a murderer. But you’re already fully on board when you pick it up; you know who Ripley is, and you know what you’re going to get.
Jane Alison, Meander, Spiral, Explode. Wonderful book on story structure. Not a Save the Cat style guide to story structure; Alison’s not going to give you a list of story beats and tell you how to distribute them through your narrative. Rather the opposite; she invites you to look beyond such linear models of narrative, noting that the expansiveness of the novel gives you the opportunity to leave linear structures behind and instead use varied structures that themselves carry meaning or enhance or amplify the meaning in the narrative. She looks to the Modernists and to post-modern novels, their experimentations with structure, and draws in structural concepts from nature and from architecture.
Phew! Off to work. I obviously can’t let 6 weeks go by before posting here again.
Last edited:
The Exorcist. It's completely taken me by surprise. I don't know why, but I thought the novel might by a little 'dry'. Not at all! Wonderfully crafted characters, some beautiful prose and an engaging story. I am extremely impressed!
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The Secrets of Lost Cats-- Dr. Nancy Davidson. I am really enjoying this one, but I like quirky non-fiction.
I finished The Exorcist, and now moved onto The Silence of the Lambs. I adored Red Dragon, and this novel is just as compelling. I will read the original trilogy, but I have no interest at all in Hannibal Rising...
I'm finally getting to Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, long buried on my Kindle. 30% in, and Olive has only made a few cameos. Great writing, but taking a bit to get into the flow. I'm not sure where it's going yet.
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Just started re-reading Mistborn--because there's a bookclub podcast for science fiction authors to discuss popular SFF novels and also promote their own work... I'm keen to snag a spot on the Mistborn episode.
I saw that in the bookstore, and it reminded me I had the first book but hadn't read it yet
A quick procrastination post:
Recently Read:
Nightbooks (J. A. White, MG fantasy/horror, paperback): Young Alex loves monster movies and spooky stories. He's filled three journals, which he calls his "nightbooks," with his own scary tales... but he's tired of being the weird kid in school, looked at askance by peers and teachers alike. He decides to burn them in the boiler room - but never gets that far. Instead, he is lured into a witch's apartment. Trapped, he must come up with a new story every night or risk a fate worse than death.
This is a nice, dark fairy tale that doesn't pull its punches and has its characters endure real terrors and nightmares. It crosses "Hansel and Gretel" with Scheherazade and moves the story to a modern setting. Alex has worried all along that his love of horror stories means that there's something monstrous inside him, and the witch seems convinced that he's right - even as he tries to find a way to escape, he can't help being excited by the many magical artifacts littering the living room, or the weirdness of doors that open back onto the room one just left. Along the way, the reader is treated to samples from Alex's notebook and a few fragmentary tales in the witch's extensive library. White also touches on the frustrations of writing, when Alex finds himself struggling to keep up with the witch's demands. The whole makes for an excellent, if often dark, read (though not for especially sensitive kids, of course; this is for the ones who can handle "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" and the like.)
The Art and Making of The Expanse (Titan Books, nonfiction, hardcover): A collection of concept art and photos from the SyFy/Amazon Prime series The Expanse, with a foreword by book series authors Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham and a few other notes on production and the process of translating the story to the screen.
Released a mere few weeks before the premiere of Season 4 on Prime, this may be a blatant marketing tactic, but it's a beautiful one, well made and with many great images. I personally would've liked a few more articles or interviews on the process, but there's plenty here for any Screaming Firehawk (fan of the show) to enjoy. (I did find what I believe to be an error in one caption, though.)
Dragon Pearl (Yoon Ha Lee, MG fantasy/SF, hardcover): Though the Thousand Worlds are populated by supernaturals (dragons, tigers, and so forth) along with ordinary humans, fox spirits are considered extinct, and good riddance - everyone knew they were nothing but lowly tricksters, using their shapeshifting and mind-altering Charm magic to deceive and even kill innocents. But some still survive, hiding their nature and powers, such as Kim's family on the dusty backwater planet of Jinju. Her older brother Jun left home to join the Space Force and see the rest of the galaxy, and she longs to be old enough to follow him, as they always planned. When a stranger comes and tells them Jun deserted his post and went haring off after a long-lost magical artifact, the Dragon Pearl, she doesn't believe it: the Space Force was his dream, and he was too dutiful to ever shirk his responsibilities at home, let alone in space. Something terrible must have happened to him, something the stranger won't tell them. Defying her mother and using her powers to disguise herself, Kim sets out to follow him and find out what really happened - in the process landing herself in more danger than she could ever have imagined, dangers even a fox spirit may not be able to Charm their way out of.
A refreshingly different and non-European take on space fantasy puts Asian mythology and magic into a far-future setting. Ships are even designed with energy "meridians" like living bodies, and lingering ghosts are an acknowledged hazard, bringing with them bad luck and other misfortunes. Kim starts out a little too immature for her age (13), but slowly becomes a reasonably competent heroine in the face of many deceptions and dangers. Overall a decent story, if sometimes a bit too frantic for its own good.
Currently Reading:
Seraphina (Book 1 of the Seraphina series, Rachel Hartman, YA Fantasy, paperback): Sixteen-year-old Seraphina should not exist. Her father is an ordinary lawyer, but her mother was a dragon in human guise, and with only a few decades of peace between the dragons and the humans of the Southlands coexistence is barely tolerated and cohabitation unheard of, let alone hybrid offspring. With the murder of a beloved human prince in a manner that suggest dragon involvement and the upcoming celebration of the peace treaty between the species, tensions are at an all-time high - and Seraphina may find herself in the middle of brewing hostilities, even as she struggles to keep her heritage a secret from all sides.
So far, I'd rate it good but not great. The dragons are strict and logical beings while the humans are hot-headed and prone to violent prejudices, with neither side displaying much in the way of depth yet. Hartman also did a fair bit of dancing before revealing Seraphina's dual heritage, which struck me as subtly irksome when it's the whole point of the book and her character. Still, it's a little different and there's lots of potential going ahead.
The Fifth Season (Book 1 of the Broken Earth trilogy, N. K. Jemisin, fantasy/SF, Kindle): In a tectonically-destablizing world, some are born with unusual abilities over stone, which makes them outcast. One, a woman who hid her skills for years, finally cracks when her husband murders their son. Another, a child, has just been handed over to a secretive group that trains special people to focus and control their talents. Between them, they might save or destroy the planet.
This one is starting a bit slow: there's an intriguing world and different characters, but I'm waiting for the tangible stakes (beyond the usual "end of the world") to be revealed.
Recently Read:
Nightbooks (J. A. White, MG fantasy/horror, paperback): Young Alex loves monster movies and spooky stories. He's filled three journals, which he calls his "nightbooks," with his own scary tales... but he's tired of being the weird kid in school, looked at askance by peers and teachers alike. He decides to burn them in the boiler room - but never gets that far. Instead, he is lured into a witch's apartment. Trapped, he must come up with a new story every night or risk a fate worse than death.
This is a nice, dark fairy tale that doesn't pull its punches and has its characters endure real terrors and nightmares. It crosses "Hansel and Gretel" with Scheherazade and moves the story to a modern setting. Alex has worried all along that his love of horror stories means that there's something monstrous inside him, and the witch seems convinced that he's right - even as he tries to find a way to escape, he can't help being excited by the many magical artifacts littering the living room, or the weirdness of doors that open back onto the room one just left. Along the way, the reader is treated to samples from Alex's notebook and a few fragmentary tales in the witch's extensive library. White also touches on the frustrations of writing, when Alex finds himself struggling to keep up with the witch's demands. The whole makes for an excellent, if often dark, read (though not for especially sensitive kids, of course; this is for the ones who can handle "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" and the like.)
The Art and Making of The Expanse (Titan Books, nonfiction, hardcover): A collection of concept art and photos from the SyFy/Amazon Prime series The Expanse, with a foreword by book series authors Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham and a few other notes on production and the process of translating the story to the screen.
Released a mere few weeks before the premiere of Season 4 on Prime, this may be a blatant marketing tactic, but it's a beautiful one, well made and with many great images. I personally would've liked a few more articles or interviews on the process, but there's plenty here for any Screaming Firehawk (fan of the show) to enjoy. (I did find what I believe to be an error in one caption, though.)
Dragon Pearl (Yoon Ha Lee, MG fantasy/SF, hardcover): Though the Thousand Worlds are populated by supernaturals (dragons, tigers, and so forth) along with ordinary humans, fox spirits are considered extinct, and good riddance - everyone knew they were nothing but lowly tricksters, using their shapeshifting and mind-altering Charm magic to deceive and even kill innocents. But some still survive, hiding their nature and powers, such as Kim's family on the dusty backwater planet of Jinju. Her older brother Jun left home to join the Space Force and see the rest of the galaxy, and she longs to be old enough to follow him, as they always planned. When a stranger comes and tells them Jun deserted his post and went haring off after a long-lost magical artifact, the Dragon Pearl, she doesn't believe it: the Space Force was his dream, and he was too dutiful to ever shirk his responsibilities at home, let alone in space. Something terrible must have happened to him, something the stranger won't tell them. Defying her mother and using her powers to disguise herself, Kim sets out to follow him and find out what really happened - in the process landing herself in more danger than she could ever have imagined, dangers even a fox spirit may not be able to Charm their way out of.
A refreshingly different and non-European take on space fantasy puts Asian mythology and magic into a far-future setting. Ships are even designed with energy "meridians" like living bodies, and lingering ghosts are an acknowledged hazard, bringing with them bad luck and other misfortunes. Kim starts out a little too immature for her age (13), but slowly becomes a reasonably competent heroine in the face of many deceptions and dangers. Overall a decent story, if sometimes a bit too frantic for its own good.
Currently Reading:
Seraphina (Book 1 of the Seraphina series, Rachel Hartman, YA Fantasy, paperback): Sixteen-year-old Seraphina should not exist. Her father is an ordinary lawyer, but her mother was a dragon in human guise, and with only a few decades of peace between the dragons and the humans of the Southlands coexistence is barely tolerated and cohabitation unheard of, let alone hybrid offspring. With the murder of a beloved human prince in a manner that suggest dragon involvement and the upcoming celebration of the peace treaty between the species, tensions are at an all-time high - and Seraphina may find herself in the middle of brewing hostilities, even as she struggles to keep her heritage a secret from all sides.
So far, I'd rate it good but not great. The dragons are strict and logical beings while the humans are hot-headed and prone to violent prejudices, with neither side displaying much in the way of depth yet. Hartman also did a fair bit of dancing before revealing Seraphina's dual heritage, which struck me as subtly irksome when it's the whole point of the book and her character. Still, it's a little different and there's lots of potential going ahead.
The Fifth Season (Book 1 of the Broken Earth trilogy, N. K. Jemisin, fantasy/SF, Kindle): In a tectonically-destablizing world, some are born with unusual abilities over stone, which makes them outcast. One, a woman who hid her skills for years, finally cracks when her husband murders their son. Another, a child, has just been handed over to a secretive group that trains special people to focus and control their talents. Between them, they might save or destroy the planet.
This one is starting a bit slow: there's an intriguing world and different characters, but I'm waiting for the tangible stakes (beyond the usual "end of the world") to be revealed.