Reading Meme
Apr. 20th, 2022 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitewithfishWhat I’ve Read
Thick as Thieves - Megan Whalen Turner – This book did not disappoint! Kamet’s view of Attolia as backwards and frustrating gradually gave way to realizing that he’d decided to hate them because it was easier than blaming the Mede for their constant outward expansion. I really liked that the book delved into the realities of slavery in this world – something that many fantasy worlds that include slavery skate over, to my personal frustration.
Across the Green Grass Fields - Seanan McGuire - Hugos Death Race 2022 (Best Novella Nominee) – A really lovely and slightly bleak little novella. It definitely felt like it was a window into a specific period of one child’s life, rather than a fairy tale that closes on its characters living happily ever after. Really enjoyed it. I want to check out the rest of the books in this loosely connected series – I didn’t expect an intersex protagonist in this story and I am vaguely wondering if the rest of the books are also quite queer.
A Spindle Splintered (Fractured Fables #1) - Alix E. Harrow – - Hugos Death Race 2022 (Best Novella Nominee) – The author said in her afterword that she’d decided to “Spiderverse some fairy tales” and, honestly, that is a really good description. A prosaic, real world girl who has some deeply personal connections to the Sleeping Beauty story falls into a realm where Sleeping Beauty is a real person. And then they run into another Sleeping Beauty, and another, and, well, it’s not princesses all the way down but it’s *stories* all the way down.
“Unknown Number” by Blue Neustifter (Twitter, Jul 2021) – Hugos Death Race 2022 (Best Novelette Nominee) – (Online here: https://twitter.com/azure_husky/status/1420177932518137862) A Twitter DM from a strange number opens up a different world for our main character. Epistolary and modern, I think this is deeply charming. You’re trans any way you need to be.
What I’m Reading
Four Profound Weaves - RB Lemberg - After book club tonight, I get to read the rest! Yay! I cannot believe I originally started this months ago and found it slow and not compelling. I really just needed to get thru the first part, where the characters make their decisions to go on their quests, to really feel engaged.
Melusine - Sarah Monette - I’m in a holding pattern on this book. I have the rest in the series out from the library, I just lost steam on this.
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers – Hugos Death Race 2022 (Best Novel Nominee) – I adored her novella entry, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, and I am just getting started here. The slower pace of a novel is not quite suiting my tastes just now, but I have gotten to the point where we have met all the main characters and Things Are Happening. I only now realized that this was a part of a series with Long Way to A Small Angry Planet and others, which I have heard enough good things about that it’s actually kind of put me off reading them.
Huh – I realized just now I actually own long way to a small angry planet, read half, and stopped midway thru. Might be time to try that again, or as an audiobook.
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyers (audiobook read by Jake Abel) – Uh. So, look. There’s a story behind this choice. I’m re-watching Supernatural (The Great Queer Supernatural Re-Watch) and we’ve hit season 6, which is a slog. The show had changed showrunners, the writers were going in five different directions at once, and there was a bit of whiplash for us. So, since the next episode we’re scheduled to watch is “Live Free or Twihard,” we figured we’d take a breather and dig into some of the backlog of vampire essays we’d built up And also re-watch Twilight, the film. About 10 minutes into the film, I made a joke that Bella and Edward bond so quickly because they are both autistic, and uh, it held up better than a joke made in passing really should – something about they way their conversations carry a lot of meaning for them but don’t quite intersect really reminds me of my own conversations with my dear and nerdliest friends. So, uh. It made me want to see what the story was like from Edward's perspective and, ooh, man, it's so much worse. But, the narrator is Jake Abel, who I know mostly from his wonderful and strange run on Supernatural, and well, the character he plays is not unlike Edward in some ways, so there's a really hilarious quality where I am listening to Stephenie Meyers and thinking about Supernatural and well, you love what you love.
What I’ll Read Next
I have lots and lots of Hugo nominated things left to read, so I think it will depend on what comes into the library!
After we finish The Four Profound Weaves, we’re reading A Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry, so I will probably have something to report on that next!
Work in Progress Meme - The new Sock Madness pattern is out, and I'm going to start it at some point! I just feel mildly out of interest in it.
Life Update: We have started working on the paperwork to get the environmental loan rebate on our furnace replaced. It's going! It's a thing!
Thick as Thieves - Megan Whalen Turner – This book did not disappoint! Kamet’s view of Attolia as backwards and frustrating gradually gave way to realizing that he’d decided to hate them because it was easier than blaming the Mede for their constant outward expansion. I really liked that the book delved into the realities of slavery in this world – something that many fantasy worlds that include slavery skate over, to my personal frustration.
Across the Green Grass Fields - Seanan McGuire - Hugos Death Race 2022 (Best Novella Nominee) – A really lovely and slightly bleak little novella. It definitely felt like it was a window into a specific period of one child’s life, rather than a fairy tale that closes on its characters living happily ever after. Really enjoyed it. I want to check out the rest of the books in this loosely connected series – I didn’t expect an intersex protagonist in this story and I am vaguely wondering if the rest of the books are also quite queer.
A Spindle Splintered (Fractured Fables #1) - Alix E. Harrow – - Hugos Death Race 2022 (Best Novella Nominee) – The author said in her afterword that she’d decided to “Spiderverse some fairy tales” and, honestly, that is a really good description. A prosaic, real world girl who has some deeply personal connections to the Sleeping Beauty story falls into a realm where Sleeping Beauty is a real person. And then they run into another Sleeping Beauty, and another, and, well, it’s not princesses all the way down but it’s *stories* all the way down.
“Unknown Number” by Blue Neustifter (Twitter, Jul 2021) – Hugos Death Race 2022 (Best Novelette Nominee) – (Online here: https://twitter.com/azure_husky/status/1420177932518137862) A Twitter DM from a strange number opens up a different world for our main character. Epistolary and modern, I think this is deeply charming. You’re trans any way you need to be.
What I’m Reading
Four Profound Weaves - RB Lemberg - After book club tonight, I get to read the rest! Yay! I cannot believe I originally started this months ago and found it slow and not compelling. I really just needed to get thru the first part, where the characters make their decisions to go on their quests, to really feel engaged.
Melusine - Sarah Monette - I’m in a holding pattern on this book. I have the rest in the series out from the library, I just lost steam on this.
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers – Hugos Death Race 2022 (Best Novel Nominee) – I adored her novella entry, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, and I am just getting started here. The slower pace of a novel is not quite suiting my tastes just now, but I have gotten to the point where we have met all the main characters and Things Are Happening. I only now realized that this was a part of a series with Long Way to A Small Angry Planet and others, which I have heard enough good things about that it’s actually kind of put me off reading them.
Huh – I realized just now I actually own long way to a small angry planet, read half, and stopped midway thru. Might be time to try that again, or as an audiobook.
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyers (audiobook read by Jake Abel) – Uh. So, look. There’s a story behind this choice. I’m re-watching Supernatural (The Great Queer Supernatural Re-Watch) and we’ve hit season 6, which is a slog. The show had changed showrunners, the writers were going in five different directions at once, and there was a bit of whiplash for us. So, since the next episode we’re scheduled to watch is “Live Free or Twihard,” we figured we’d take a breather and dig into some of the backlog of vampire essays we’d built up And also re-watch Twilight, the film. About 10 minutes into the film, I made a joke that Bella and Edward bond so quickly because they are both autistic, and uh, it held up better than a joke made in passing really should – something about they way their conversations carry a lot of meaning for them but don’t quite intersect really reminds me of my own conversations with my dear and nerdliest friends. So, uh. It made me want to see what the story was like from Edward's perspective and, ooh, man, it's so much worse. But, the narrator is Jake Abel, who I know mostly from his wonderful and strange run on Supernatural, and well, the character he plays is not unlike Edward in some ways, so there's a really hilarious quality where I am listening to Stephenie Meyers and thinking about Supernatural and well, you love what you love.
What I’ll Read Next
I have lots and lots of Hugo nominated things left to read, so I think it will depend on what comes into the library!
After we finish The Four Profound Weaves, we’re reading A Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry, so I will probably have something to report on that next!
Work in Progress Meme - The new Sock Madness pattern is out, and I'm going to start it at some point! I just feel mildly out of interest in it.
Life Update: We have started working on the paperwork to get the environmental loan rebate on our furnace replaced. It's going! It's a thing!
no subject
Date: 2022-04-20 06:49 pm (UTC)That is rather funny!
no subject
Date: 2022-04-24 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-24 04:19 pm (UTC)