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What I’ve Read:
The Wicked and The Divine vol 1, 2, and 3– I wish this were better. I have read Kieron Gillen’s work before (Hugos project) and found it kind of thin. This story so far deals with a world similar to ours that has a set of reincarnated gods who appear every 90 years and then die, but it’s also a murder mystery. It’s treading ground that Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and even Warren Ellis have gone over in terms of themes about people gaining powers of a godlike level and destabilizing society, but it’s not as mythological as Gaiman, nor as mystical as Moore, and nor as funny as Ellis; so I’m probably going to read out what the library has of this series but not pursue it further. It’s fine. The art is very bland and realistic and poorly framed – the scenes feel totally dynamic and like someone photographed posed dolls rather than tried to convey a scene of motion and life.
Actually, exception for the third volume, which shakes it up by having a new artist for each issue while the series artist was away – great stuff, much more dynamic, actually really recommend volume three. But it is not a standalone, so you will need to follow the set up of the first volumes. We’ll see if I continue!
What I’m Reading:
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York– Robert Caro – like 5% This book is enormous and quite engaging. I fell for the 99% Invisible Podcast’s book club idea, so I’m going to try to read parts 1 and 2 before January like…. 19Th, I think?
Ninefox Gambit – Xing Book Club – static, not highly motivated to go on
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu – vol 1 of 5. about 70% This is much more fun as a re-read/ having seen the tv show, The Untamed. I really feel like I learned so much about tropes in this genre of Chinese fantasy from just this one author and her works that revisiting this really drives home how clueless I was at the time. I am still quite clueless about most things, but I am much less lost this time!
It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections in Horror - Joe Vallese (Editor) – SPN Seminar – 38%
-Short essays where queer authors talk about horror cinema’s impact on them, with a focus on particular movies.
Just read the one on Twin/Skin and it’s great – really interesting relationship the author has to her twin and to the film Dead Ringers.
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson – read a few more short stories – I’m now into section 2 of the book. 41% Today I have read “Afternoon in Linen” which is a perfect example of the kind of acute embarrassment of being a small child put on display to impress adults, who are totally oblivious to the feelings and social dynamics of the children in the room. “Flower Garden” is about a woman longing for a particular kind of lovely life who then ostracizes the woman who actually steps into that life. It’s great – the main character seems so sympathetic right up until she absolutely betrays the smallness of her mind and the meanness of her spirit and you realize that she painted herself as a kindred spirit to a woman she is now ostracizing.
What I’ll Read Next:
When Women Were Dragons - Xing Book Club
Lord of The Rings – in keeping with my vague sense that I should actually read the big books that everyone talks about!
I also made a minor goal to try and read books that were mentioned in the Be The Serpent Podcast – they had a lot of good books that were not necessarily focuses of their episodes but just thing they were reading, and now I’m going to try and dig into those a bit. To that end, I have Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett out from the library.
Unrelated but also in the queue: Gild, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
Owned and need to read: Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, California Bones, Raven Song by IA Ashcroft, At The Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard, Tamryn Eradani's Enchanting Encounters Books 2 and 3, Tom Stoppard, Invention of love, "You Just Need to Lose Weight" and Other Myths about Fatness by Aubrey Gordon
Some personal stuff - I slipped and fell in the bathroom yesterday and wrenched my knee - I'm calling the doc about it tomorrow after spending the last two days on bedrest. My spouse got a wakeup call about a health issue that was not surprising but is also something to be managed and I'm feeling spooked about our human fragility.
The Wicked and The Divine vol 1, 2, and 3– I wish this were better. I have read Kieron Gillen’s work before (Hugos project) and found it kind of thin. This story so far deals with a world similar to ours that has a set of reincarnated gods who appear every 90 years and then die, but it’s also a murder mystery. It’s treading ground that Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and even Warren Ellis have gone over in terms of themes about people gaining powers of a godlike level and destabilizing society, but it’s not as mythological as Gaiman, nor as mystical as Moore, and nor as funny as Ellis; so I’m probably going to read out what the library has of this series but not pursue it further. It’s fine. The art is very bland and realistic and poorly framed – the scenes feel totally dynamic and like someone photographed posed dolls rather than tried to convey a scene of motion and life.
Actually, exception for the third volume, which shakes it up by having a new artist for each issue while the series artist was away – great stuff, much more dynamic, actually really recommend volume three. But it is not a standalone, so you will need to follow the set up of the first volumes. We’ll see if I continue!
What I’m Reading:
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York– Robert Caro – like 5% This book is enormous and quite engaging. I fell for the 99% Invisible Podcast’s book club idea, so I’m going to try to read parts 1 and 2 before January like…. 19Th, I think?
Ninefox Gambit – Xing Book Club – static, not highly motivated to go on
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu – vol 1 of 5. about 70% This is much more fun as a re-read/ having seen the tv show, The Untamed. I really feel like I learned so much about tropes in this genre of Chinese fantasy from just this one author and her works that revisiting this really drives home how clueless I was at the time. I am still quite clueless about most things, but I am much less lost this time!
It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections in Horror - Joe Vallese (Editor) – SPN Seminar – 38%
-Short essays where queer authors talk about horror cinema’s impact on them, with a focus on particular movies.
Just read the one on Twin/Skin and it’s great – really interesting relationship the author has to her twin and to the film Dead Ringers.
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson – read a few more short stories – I’m now into section 2 of the book. 41% Today I have read “Afternoon in Linen” which is a perfect example of the kind of acute embarrassment of being a small child put on display to impress adults, who are totally oblivious to the feelings and social dynamics of the children in the room. “Flower Garden” is about a woman longing for a particular kind of lovely life who then ostracizes the woman who actually steps into that life. It’s great – the main character seems so sympathetic right up until she absolutely betrays the smallness of her mind and the meanness of her spirit and you realize that she painted herself as a kindred spirit to a woman she is now ostracizing.
What I’ll Read Next:
When Women Were Dragons - Xing Book Club
Lord of The Rings – in keeping with my vague sense that I should actually read the big books that everyone talks about!
I also made a minor goal to try and read books that were mentioned in the Be The Serpent Podcast – they had a lot of good books that were not necessarily focuses of their episodes but just thing they were reading, and now I’m going to try and dig into those a bit. To that end, I have Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett out from the library.
Unrelated but also in the queue: Gild, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
Owned and need to read: Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, California Bones, Raven Song by IA Ashcroft, At The Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard, Tamryn Eradani's Enchanting Encounters Books 2 and 3, Tom Stoppard, Invention of love, "You Just Need to Lose Weight" and Other Myths about Fatness by Aubrey Gordon
Some personal stuff - I slipped and fell in the bathroom yesterday and wrenched my knee - I'm calling the doc about it tomorrow after spending the last two days on bedrest. My spouse got a wakeup call about a health issue that was not surprising but is also something to be managed and I'm feeling spooked about our human fragility.
