Wednesday Reading Meme for April 29 2026
Apr. 29th, 2026 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitewithfishWhat I've Read
The Visitor - KA Applegate - This was one of my most favorite Animorphs and it really drives home that the book is going to look at the cost of this war on an individual level. Rachel has to infiltrate the home of a Yeerk leader who is also the father of Rachel's old friend. Losing a parent is awful - but this child has lost her parents while they are still present and alive because the brain controlling aliens running her parents' bodies do not love her like he parents did.
My Happy Marriage Vol 2 & 3 - This is a self indulgent manga with good art and some main character whump.
The Other Bennet Sister - Janice Hadlow - Audiobook, this ruled. The conceit is obvious- take a side character from Pride and Prejudice and look at them closer, it's been done before, it so often works! Because Austen's side characters can stand up to scrutiny, but they have enough space to dig into who they are. The choice to look at Mary, starting before the events of P&P, when she's a plain little girl who cannot understand why she can't please her mother or connect with her father or break into the pairs that her four sisters have fallen into - was there ever such an ugly duckly, such a middle child? It's an excellent story of someone trying to be special to others somehow, and the main story comes together quite sweetly. Hadlow manages a book with a similar sense of interest in character as Austen but without trying to ape her style so closely that I felt it veered into pastiche.
What I'm Reading
The Ancient Magus Bride (vol 1 manga ) So far so good, weird world building and a dude with a horse skull for a face bought our main character from her shitty family.
Dracula - Continues to be a banger.
What I'll Read Next
SciFi/Fantasy Book Club
Tomb of Dragons Katherine Addison - reread
Necromancy Book Club
The Everlasting Alix E. Harrow
The Isle in the Silver Sea Tasha Suri
Platform Decay (murderbot 8) Martha Wells
Ancillary Justice Ann Leckie
Hugo nominations came out!
I think the voter packet hasn't come out yet, so I have not gotten the freebies of some of these books yet but I am hopeful.
Novels
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape) - read, it was great
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (William Morrow; Gollancz) - know the author, know nothing about this
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US) - haven't read this, looking forward to it
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK) - already on the to-read list
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Tor US; Orbit UK) - read, it was great (tho a bit obvious)
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US; Hodderscape)- never even heard of this one
Novellas
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom)
Cinder House by Freya Marske (Tordotcom; Tor UK) - read it, very interesting
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Tordotcom)
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK)
The Summer War by Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK)
What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK) -read it, solid, not a standalone without the first two novellas
The other categories also merit attention but the funny thing is just the movies - I have already seen all of them except Mickey 17.
The Visitor - KA Applegate - This was one of my most favorite Animorphs and it really drives home that the book is going to look at the cost of this war on an individual level. Rachel has to infiltrate the home of a Yeerk leader who is also the father of Rachel's old friend. Losing a parent is awful - but this child has lost her parents while they are still present and alive because the brain controlling aliens running her parents' bodies do not love her like he parents did.
My Happy Marriage Vol 2 & 3 - This is a self indulgent manga with good art and some main character whump.
The Other Bennet Sister - Janice Hadlow - Audiobook, this ruled. The conceit is obvious- take a side character from Pride and Prejudice and look at them closer, it's been done before, it so often works! Because Austen's side characters can stand up to scrutiny, but they have enough space to dig into who they are. The choice to look at Mary, starting before the events of P&P, when she's a plain little girl who cannot understand why she can't please her mother or connect with her father or break into the pairs that her four sisters have fallen into - was there ever such an ugly duckly, such a middle child? It's an excellent story of someone trying to be special to others somehow, and the main story comes together quite sweetly. Hadlow manages a book with a similar sense of interest in character as Austen but without trying to ape her style so closely that I felt it veered into pastiche.
What I'm Reading
The Ancient Magus Bride (vol 1 manga ) So far so good, weird world building and a dude with a horse skull for a face bought our main character from her shitty family.
Dracula - Continues to be a banger.
What I'll Read Next
SciFi/Fantasy Book Club
Tomb of Dragons Katherine Addison - reread
Necromancy Book Club
The Everlasting Alix E. Harrow
The Isle in the Silver Sea Tasha Suri
Platform Decay (murderbot 8) Martha Wells
Ancillary Justice Ann Leckie
Hugo nominations came out!
I think the voter packet hasn't come out yet, so I have not gotten the freebies of some of these books yet but I am hopeful.
Novels
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape) - read, it was great
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (William Morrow; Gollancz) - know the author, know nothing about this
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US) - haven't read this, looking forward to it
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK) - already on the to-read list
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Tor US; Orbit UK) - read, it was great (tho a bit obvious)
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US; Hodderscape)- never even heard of this one
Novellas
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom)
Cinder House by Freya Marske (Tordotcom; Tor UK) - read it, very interesting
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Tordotcom)
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK)
The Summer War by Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK)
What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK) -read it, solid, not a standalone without the first two novellas
The other categories also merit attention but the funny thing is just the movies - I have already seen all of them except Mickey 17.
no subject
Date: 2026-04-30 11:30 am (UTC)One of mine ("mine"), and I love it. <3
no subject
Date: 2026-04-30 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-05-01 12:47 pm (UTC)Hooray! ^_^
no subject
Date: 2026-04-30 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-30 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-30 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-30 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-04-30 11:47 pm (UTC)COMMENTS HEREAFTER MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS for Other Bennett Sister
Date: 2026-05-01 12:30 am (UTC)Charlotte lucas is a very ambiguous figure in this book! After she marries Collins, she's happy, but he is not what is making her happy -the position and security make her happy. So when Mary comes to visit, Mary realizes that Mr. Collins is lonely and kind of sad, and he becomes attached to Mary, fairly naturally and innocently. The tension this causes between Mary and Charlotte highlights that Charlotte is indeed perceptive and a bit selfish to secure her own happiness, but also serves as a model of a woman working actively to create her own happiness. Collins gets a bit more fleshed out,and he's grown up a fair bit from the days of his first visit to the Bennetts. Mary ends up leaving her visit early to go to London (which is a much better fit for her) and Charlotte seems to take to heart that Collins needs some kindness from his wife even if its a marriage for convenience rather than love.
I really love Charlotte being kind of pragmatic and cold in this book,towards ends that suit her, and she doesn't excuse her choices. Even while she acknowledged that she did cut Mary out.
Re: COMMENTS HEREAFTER MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS for Other Bennett Sister
Date: 2026-05-01 01:31 pm (UTC)