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kitewithfishReal Life: Huzzah, I am finally covid negative! And feeling significantly better, tho my general stamina is a lot lower than it was two weeks ago – I got tired from a twenty-minute walk earlier today. But hopefully things will sort themselves out before too long. In the meanwhile, I am being slow and gentle with myself as much as possible and taking breaks and resting as much as I need.
I have a busy day tomorrow, with a bit of travel for work, so I'm posting this round-up a day early.
What I’ve Read
Nothing to completion in the book field. I wasn’t much compelled to read anything after the Xenoethnography series last week.
I have read some shorter fanfic, tho, and here is the round up on the best of that.
Rest Easy by Largishcat - https://archiveofourown.org/works/42136437 - Transformers AU -Ratchet focused AU where he becomes a Decepticon medic.
Paying Debts by astolat - https://archiveofourown.org/works/37333618- Game of Thrones AU, Tywin Lannister realizes that if he wants his favorite son to settled down and start popping out kids, he’s going to have to convince Brienne of Tarth that he’s not, in fact, going to stab the Starks in the back.
The Price of Bread and Salt by astolat https://archiveofourown.org/works/36539203 - Game of Thrones AU
What I’m Reading
What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Monroe (of XKCD fame) Sineala mentioned reading this last Wednesday and it reminded me that, hey, I own that. I’m picking it up at random when I might otherwise pick up my phone and futz around. I think this is one of those books that would have been a real favorite of mine at age 9-15, and it’s got some fun puzzles that do a good job of discussing how to think about a complicated problem and approach a reasonable answer. I recommend it! – 8%
Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (1991) – This is a Star Wars Expanded Universe/Legends novel that introduces Grand Admiral Thrawn - the book is now sadly out of canon. I think I *must* have read this back in the ‘90s – there are too many things in it that I vaguely remember as a scene or a line, but the whole of the book is a blur to me. I am reading this because I am digging into the Star Wars cultural past, aka, the stuff that fans loved but that Disney has decided doesn’t matter until they need to mine it for content for the TV shows, which will do it differently and somehow worse. I know from internet buzz that Thrawn showed up in the preview for some live action show that’s coming up, so I’m attempting to get ahead of the curve. I had already read two of the new-canon works (from 2017) by Zahn that revisit the character, and I’m not sure that they were an improvement, tho they were perfectly fine books on their own. ( I am a little sad over how much less interesting Kylo Ren was compared to Jacen Solo, but that ship has well and truly sailed.) – 39%
The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction - Nick Groom - 39% - static, too sick to read
Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection - Julia Kristeva -static, too sick to read
True Colors - Karen Traviss - 28% - static
Too Like The Lightning - Ada Palmer – Static
Did not finish – I started A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas (Narrated by Jennifer Ikeda) and decided to put it down around the 20% mark. I don’t think I was quite fair to it – it strongly reminded me of several books I have read already, some that I enjoyed and some not so much.
The start felt like a re-telling of Robin McKinley’s Beauty, with less interest in the family that had fallen on hard times as individual people and absolutely NO interest in the little village the formerly wealthy people had landed in. (The main character goes to sell the pelt of a wolf she had killed the day before - no mention of tanning it! She just sells someone a raw wolf skin! These people have no food other than bread and meat, and live in town where no one barters or helps a starving neighbor?) One of the sisters was clearly designated The Bad Sister, because she is useless and mean, while The Good Sister is useless and kind.
The little I read that was actually in the fairy kingdom was reminding me strongly of 50 Shades of Grey, in that the main character’s internal narration and her external behavior didn’t seem to match up very closely - a lot of description of her being afraid the fairy people, and very little of it showing up in her actions. Then there was an interesting bit of worldbuilding that came up - all the fae wear masks at all times, which I thought was a cool bit of culture around the fae hiding the truth behind masks and obfuscation. When the revelation came that this was because of a magical blight that struck them 40 years ago so their masquerade costumes were magically glued to their faces…! I bailed. It was too silly, and too badly written. I have loved worse things but I'm not sure this is for me.
That said, it seems to be a popular book series among some circles of Tiktok, and I would be willing to give it another chance, if I could find someone who could help me find the fun in it.
What I’ll Read Next
The Calculating Stars - Xing Book Club
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
I have a busy day tomorrow, with a bit of travel for work, so I'm posting this round-up a day early.
What I’ve Read
Nothing to completion in the book field. I wasn’t much compelled to read anything after the Xenoethnography series last week.
I have read some shorter fanfic, tho, and here is the round up on the best of that.
Rest Easy by Largishcat - https://archiveofourown.org/works/42136437 - Transformers AU -Ratchet focused AU where he becomes a Decepticon medic.
Paying Debts by astolat - https://archiveofourown.org/works/37333618- Game of Thrones AU, Tywin Lannister realizes that if he wants his favorite son to settled down and start popping out kids, he’s going to have to convince Brienne of Tarth that he’s not, in fact, going to stab the Starks in the back.
The Price of Bread and Salt by astolat https://archiveofourown.org/works/36539203 - Game of Thrones AU
What I’m Reading
What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Monroe (of XKCD fame) Sineala mentioned reading this last Wednesday and it reminded me that, hey, I own that. I’m picking it up at random when I might otherwise pick up my phone and futz around. I think this is one of those books that would have been a real favorite of mine at age 9-15, and it’s got some fun puzzles that do a good job of discussing how to think about a complicated problem and approach a reasonable answer. I recommend it! – 8%
Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (1991) – This is a Star Wars Expanded Universe/Legends novel that introduces Grand Admiral Thrawn - the book is now sadly out of canon. I think I *must* have read this back in the ‘90s – there are too many things in it that I vaguely remember as a scene or a line, but the whole of the book is a blur to me. I am reading this because I am digging into the Star Wars cultural past, aka, the stuff that fans loved but that Disney has decided doesn’t matter until they need to mine it for content for the TV shows, which will do it differently and somehow worse. I know from internet buzz that Thrawn showed up in the preview for some live action show that’s coming up, so I’m attempting to get ahead of the curve. I had already read two of the new-canon works (from 2017) by Zahn that revisit the character, and I’m not sure that they were an improvement, tho they were perfectly fine books on their own. ( I am a little sad over how much less interesting Kylo Ren was compared to Jacen Solo, but that ship has well and truly sailed.) – 39%
The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction - Nick Groom - 39% - static, too sick to read
Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection - Julia Kristeva -static, too sick to read
True Colors - Karen Traviss - 28% - static
Too Like The Lightning - Ada Palmer – Static
Did not finish – I started A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas (Narrated by Jennifer Ikeda) and decided to put it down around the 20% mark. I don’t think I was quite fair to it – it strongly reminded me of several books I have read already, some that I enjoyed and some not so much.
The start felt like a re-telling of Robin McKinley’s Beauty, with less interest in the family that had fallen on hard times as individual people and absolutely NO interest in the little village the formerly wealthy people had landed in. (The main character goes to sell the pelt of a wolf she had killed the day before - no mention of tanning it! She just sells someone a raw wolf skin! These people have no food other than bread and meat, and live in town where no one barters or helps a starving neighbor?) One of the sisters was clearly designated The Bad Sister, because she is useless and mean, while The Good Sister is useless and kind.
The little I read that was actually in the fairy kingdom was reminding me strongly of 50 Shades of Grey, in that the main character’s internal narration and her external behavior didn’t seem to match up very closely - a lot of description of her being afraid the fairy people, and very little of it showing up in her actions. Then there was an interesting bit of worldbuilding that came up - all the fae wear masks at all times, which I thought was a cool bit of culture around the fae hiding the truth behind masks and obfuscation. When the revelation came that this was because of a magical blight that struck them 40 years ago so their masquerade costumes were magically glued to their faces…! I bailed. It was too silly, and too badly written. I have loved worse things but I'm not sure this is for me.
That said, it seems to be a popular book series among some circles of Tiktok, and I would be willing to give it another chance, if I could find someone who could help me find the fun in it.
What I’ll Read Next
The Calculating Stars - Xing Book Club
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
no subject
Date: 2023-04-26 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-26 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-27 07:26 am (UTC)I've read the first two Thrawn books and I have the third but haven't got round to it yet. I haven't yet watched any of the Star Wars TV series but I keep meaning to; maybe Thrawn will be what finally pulls me in. I was also deeply disappointed in Kylo but, as you say, that ship has long since sailed.