Wednesday Reading Meme - March 29 2023
Mar. 29th, 2023 12:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitewithfishWhat I've Read
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - Xing Book Club - I adored this - like Tamsyn Muir's Nona the Ninth, this is written from the POV of a character who has the least information about where he is and how he got there, and the novel is largely about him finding out what happened. This is about a haunted house, maybe, from the view point of the living man doing the haunting, or maybe a labyrinth from the view of the minotaur. The atmospheric descriptions of the vast and impossible structure put me in mind of descriptions of hikers talking about walking great swaths of a trail and getting to directly experience their own minds paying attention to minute details of the world around them. I have heard it compared to House of Leaves, which seems somewhat fair - they have both have an epistolary style and a focus on an impossible space - but Piranesi is far gentler. I really, really enjoyed it - read it in a day - and I'm a bit sad I can't sum it up better! The mere plot of the thing doesn't really live up to the experience.
A Gentleman and An Officer by Trudemaethien (Restricted) https://archiveofourown.org/works/46045405 -Star Wars Clone Wars AU bit of military fic, Cody/Rex
The Creche by Blue_Sunshine https://archiveofourown.org/works/36847618 - AU Star Wars fic with a bit of a series. Anakin/Obi-Wan. Anakin goes down to the Jedi Temple's creche for the first time, after being raised mostly by Qui-Gon Jinn, and meets the crechemaster.
the first church of the end of the world by withbloodstainedclothingon https://archiveofourown.org/works/4007173 - Supernatural - Dean and Lisa and Castiel, AU of The End
What I'm Reading
True Colors - Karen Traviss - 23% - static - This is a Star Wars "Legends" novel that builds out a lot of the Mandalorian culture by focusing on the military fiction adventures of a subset of clone commandos who were raised and trained by one Mandalorian trainer in particular. There's a bunch of awkward stuff in this particular novel around a pregnancy and some real patriarchal BS, which is why I'm slow with it. But it's good background for my "Clones are Fun, Actually" reading.
A Restless Truth - Freya Marske - 55% - This is a fun fantasy with ship-board mystery and a sapphic romance that is both sweet and quite sexy. The first book in this trilogy was a delight and this is also adorable. I started this about three days ago and I have been blitzing thru.
Too Like The Lightning - Ada Palmer - A re-read bc a couple of my friends are starting it. It's a future mystery with a writing style like a 18th century novel, all breathless and Englightnment that I really enjoy.
Underline the Black by not_poignant https://archiveofourown.org/works/41396784 - Not_Poignant writes some really interesting fannish-feeling original work, and this seems like it's an Omegaverse AU of that - twisty and very hurt/moderate comfort.
On Earth as It Is in Heaven by samyazaz https://archiveofourown.org/works/833193 - Soulmate AU of Vikings - You don't need to know anything other than the first season or a vague sense of how history went down
What I'll Read Next
Powers of Horror - Chapter 1 - For the Great Queer Supernatural Re-Watch. This is a nonfiction theory book that is referred to in many of the horror-focused sources that we have previously read.
The Gothic A Very Short Introduction - After the last reading we did kind of didn't get into what The Gothic is in literature, I figured that this might be a good little supplemental piece.
The Calculating Stars - Xing Book Club
Mexican Gothic - Discord Book Club - A re-read for me, but I enjoyed the book the first time and I think it will be fun to get into again.
Babel - Looks like it will on the Hugos list eventually, I'm trying to get out ahead of things
Owned and need to read: California Bones, Raven Song by IA Ashcroft, Kraken's Sacrifice by Katee Robert, Even Though I Know the End by CL Polk, At The Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard, Tamryn Eradani's Enchanting Encounters Books 2 and 3, Like Real People Do by EL Massey, Tom Stoppard, invention of love. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty, "You Just Need to Lose Weight" and Other Myths about Fatness by Aubrey Gordon, Alisha Rai Partners in Crime, the Right Swipe, Aphorisms of Kerishdar
Owned and Read/Reading:Frey Marske's A Restless Truth, Susanna Clarke's Pirenesi,True Colors by Karen Traviss
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - Xing Book Club - I adored this - like Tamsyn Muir's Nona the Ninth, this is written from the POV of a character who has the least information about where he is and how he got there, and the novel is largely about him finding out what happened. This is about a haunted house, maybe, from the view point of the living man doing the haunting, or maybe a labyrinth from the view of the minotaur. The atmospheric descriptions of the vast and impossible structure put me in mind of descriptions of hikers talking about walking great swaths of a trail and getting to directly experience their own minds paying attention to minute details of the world around them. I have heard it compared to House of Leaves, which seems somewhat fair - they have both have an epistolary style and a focus on an impossible space - but Piranesi is far gentler. I really, really enjoyed it - read it in a day - and I'm a bit sad I can't sum it up better! The mere plot of the thing doesn't really live up to the experience.
A Gentleman and An Officer by Trudemaethien (Restricted) https://archiveofourown.org/works/46045405 -Star Wars Clone Wars AU bit of military fic, Cody/Rex
The Creche by Blue_Sunshine https://archiveofourown.org/works/36847618 - AU Star Wars fic with a bit of a series. Anakin/Obi-Wan. Anakin goes down to the Jedi Temple's creche for the first time, after being raised mostly by Qui-Gon Jinn, and meets the crechemaster.
the first church of the end of the world by withbloodstainedclothingon https://archiveofourown.org/works/4007173 - Supernatural - Dean and Lisa and Castiel, AU of The End
What I'm Reading
True Colors - Karen Traviss - 23% - static - This is a Star Wars "Legends" novel that builds out a lot of the Mandalorian culture by focusing on the military fiction adventures of a subset of clone commandos who were raised and trained by one Mandalorian trainer in particular. There's a bunch of awkward stuff in this particular novel around a pregnancy and some real patriarchal BS, which is why I'm slow with it. But it's good background for my "Clones are Fun, Actually" reading.
A Restless Truth - Freya Marske - 55% - This is a fun fantasy with ship-board mystery and a sapphic romance that is both sweet and quite sexy. The first book in this trilogy was a delight and this is also adorable. I started this about three days ago and I have been blitzing thru.
Too Like The Lightning - Ada Palmer - A re-read bc a couple of my friends are starting it. It's a future mystery with a writing style like a 18th century novel, all breathless and Englightnment that I really enjoy.
Underline the Black by not_poignant https://archiveofourown.org/works/41396784 - Not_Poignant writes some really interesting fannish-feeling original work, and this seems like it's an Omegaverse AU of that - twisty and very hurt/moderate comfort.
On Earth as It Is in Heaven by samyazaz https://archiveofourown.org/works/833193 - Soulmate AU of Vikings - You don't need to know anything other than the first season or a vague sense of how history went down
What I'll Read Next
Powers of Horror - Chapter 1 - For the Great Queer Supernatural Re-Watch. This is a nonfiction theory book that is referred to in many of the horror-focused sources that we have previously read.
The Gothic A Very Short Introduction - After the last reading we did kind of didn't get into what The Gothic is in literature, I figured that this might be a good little supplemental piece.
The Calculating Stars - Xing Book Club
Mexican Gothic - Discord Book Club - A re-read for me, but I enjoyed the book the first time and I think it will be fun to get into again.
Babel - Looks like it will on the Hugos list eventually, I'm trying to get out ahead of things
Owned and need to read: California Bones, Raven Song by IA Ashcroft, Kraken's Sacrifice by Katee Robert, Even Though I Know the End by CL Polk, At The Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard, Tamryn Eradani's Enchanting Encounters Books 2 and 3, Like Real People Do by EL Massey, Tom Stoppard, invention of love. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty, "You Just Need to Lose Weight" and Other Myths about Fatness by Aubrey Gordon, Alisha Rai Partners in Crime, the Right Swipe, Aphorisms of Kerishdar
Owned and Read/Reading:
