Wed Reading Meme
Mar. 4th, 2015 07:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatThe singer/song-writer Janis Ian posted on Facebook the following: Instead of buying me a drink in a bar, people should offer to buy me a book in a bookstore. It would impress me a lot more, and further their goal.
[Or something to that effect, I can't remember the exact wording. I thought, yeah pretty much. Plus bookstores? Less noisy and crowded. Much rather hook up or be picked up by a guy in a book store.]
Walk to work improved my balancing skills. Or skating skills. Since I pretty much skated the whole way there. Walk home was dirty and grimy, but relatively free of ice and snow, just in time for the snowstorm tonight. To prepare for the temperature drop, the apartment's radiators are on full blast. So it's warm and cozy.
I'm working on being grateful. Ranting less, complaining less, being more positive with my own thought patterns...wish me luck. Probably be more effective if I didn't speak for an hour with my mother each night (she's still struggling with her knee replacement surgery). On the other hand, I'm grateful to be able to do so.
1. What I just finished reading
Among Others by Jo Walton which won the Hugo and the Nebula Award a few years back. I don't think it was recent. I don't tend to read recent fiction for some reason. Also, it's probably worth stating that I've jumped genres again. This is a speculative science-fiction/fantasy novel.
Here's the review that I wrote for Good Reads and Amazon, or rather an edited version of that review:
Among Others is an odd book - the writing style is in some respects reminiscent of Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, except in the first person. Told completely in the voice and point of view of a 15 year old girl growing up in Wales and Shropshire, during the late 1970s and early 1980s (circa 1979-1980). If, like me, you came of age in the 1980s and late 1970s, you'll probably identify a great deal with the book. Particularly if you were a science-fiction/fantasy fan. (I was a bit broader in my reading tastes than the protagonist or the author apparently, in that I read across genres, much as I do now.)
It's written primarily in "diary" format, chapters are dated, and often not much longer than a sentence or two. And for a while it feels like nothing much is happening, since the story is more of an internalized or psychological narrative than an external action packed page turner. Fans of Harry Potter will most likely be bored.
After a traumatic incident with her insane mother, Mori (the protagonist and our erstwhile narrator) has run away from home to live with her estranged father and his three sisters, whom she compares to Shakespeare's three hags in Macbeth. In reality they are middle class aristocrats, living on an overgrown estate in Shropshire, holding teas, watching telly, and ordering their somewhat bookish and rather wimpy brother about. They send Mori off to boarding school - a prestigious all girls academy. Feeling somewhat alienated and cut off from her land, Wales, and her magic, Mori, who was crippled in the incident, struggles to fit in. Barely making friends. Until one day she spins a bit of magic - and a friendly librarian invites her to join his science fiction book club. Mori is convinced that the magic spell she spun to protect herself from her mother and attract "friends" resulted in this welcome turn of events. When in truth, it may well just be an ordinary chain of events - Mori devouring science fiction novels in the library, ordering more, until the librarians notice and feel the need to encourage her love in new ways.
If you are a librarian or adore 1970s science fiction, this is your book. It is no surprise it won the Hugo and Nebula - the book is in some respects a homage to the sci-fi novels of that period. Mori discusses at length everything from Tolkien to Silverberg, Samueal Delany, Roger Zelzany, Marion Zimmer Bradely, Ursula Le Quinn, McCaffrey, CJ Cherryh (although less so), CS Lewis, Stephen R. Donaldson (which she does not like - mainly because the publisher had the audacity to compare it to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings), Robert Heinlein (huge fan of Heinlein), Issac Asmiov, Harlan Ellison, Arthur C. Clark, and Philip K. Dick. If you are a sci-fi geek and adore these novels - you'll enjoy this novel. If you aren't, you may become a bit lost. I'm half tempted to state that this is a book that may only appeal to science fiction bibliophiles..and possibly science fiction librarians and academics. There's also some discussion of the philosophy of Socrates and Plato. [Possibly as a result of her reading material and wonky female relatives, Mori may come across as a wee bit misogynistic to some readers. She certainly has issues with women or the anima.]
Very little happens in the novel - it's not plotty. And the plot is rather simplistic - basically a young girl has to overcome the negative influences of various women in her life. It may turn off or offend feminists. The women are admittedly stronger, and the men portrayed as a bit weak. Also there's a bit of a gender flip, in that the women manipulate and use magic, are in some aspects aggressive, while the men are nurturing and supportive.
It's a fascinating psychological study though - with all sorts of interesting coming of age metaphors. Also the author plays around with the concept of magic and fairies in an innovative and interesting manner - that I've seldom seen done. The fairies may or may not actually be fairies - it remains unclear. Mori calls them fairies for lack of a better name. They are various shapes and sizes, and often intangible. Also magic - tends to work indirectly...as a sort of causal chain of events. Difficult to explain, yet more realistic. A scientific take on magic as opposed to a fantastical one.
Slow to start, but ultimately compelling and haunting. It sticks in your mind long after you read it. Mori wonders at various points if there is a downside of escaping completely into books. If she is shutting herself off? Yet it is through her books that she finds others like herself, and evolves. The act of reading - expands her consciousness and allows her to let go of her childhood, and past grievances. In some respects, the science fiction novels she devours ultimately heal her.
2. What I'm reading now?
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - a book that I attempted to read several years back and have recently, upon a co-worker's recommendation, decided to try again. Granted it is the same co-worker who recommended Roger Zelzany's Lord of Light, but generally speaking he understands my taste.
Outlander, despite its marketing, is not a romance novel. It's more of a historical science fiction fantasy novel with elements of romance. The focus isn't really on romance. And it breaks a lot of the rules of the romance genre, so does not fit neatly within it. Romance readers find it irritating, because it's not "romantic".
For one thing there is a lot of violence in the novel, which makes sense due to the heavy war theme and the time period.
The story is about a WII Army Nurse who accidentally travels back to the 1700s. It's in some respects a what-if tale. What if an English Army Nurse who had just recently served on the front lines of WWII (in this case France), finds herself back in 1743 Scotland around the time of the Jacobite Uprising? How would she survive? What issues would she have to navigate? What are the differences between how women were treated in the 1940s vs. the 1700s?
Claire Beecham Randall is visiting Scotland on a second honeymoon with her husband, Frank Randall. Frank is researching his geneaology, in particular, his somewhat colorful ancestor Black Jack Randall, Captain of the Dragoons in the 1700s and scourge of the highlands. Claire could care less about the topic, and is far more interested in the botany of the area. It's 1945. The War has just ended. They've been separated through most of it - Claire as a nurse on the front lines, and Frank as an intelligence officer behind the scenes. This is their reunion of sorts.
Claire visits a mini-stone henge or group of standing stones in Scotland - in order to check out an interesting flower, she'd seen on a previous visit with Frank. During this second visit - something odd happens, and the stones send her back through time.
Whereupon she runs head long into Black Jack Randall, and a local outfit of Scottish Clansman.
While there is a romantic interest in the story, Galabdon is far more interested in historical accuracy, and how a modern woman from the 20th Century would handled the 1700s. In particular - what are the gender politics and issues you'd need to navigate? In the 1940s women were just beginning to achieve a certain level of independence financially and physically from men. They had the right to vote. They could work at various professions that were originally held only by men. There were laws in place protecting them from rape or spousal abuse. They could serve in the military in some capacity. But in the 1700s, none of this was true. Women were treated as property, with relatively few rights, and dependent purely on the protection of a husband or father. Their occupations were limited to cook, housekeeper, wife, mother, daughter, prostitute, mid-wife, wet-nurse, healer and shop-keeper. Healers though were looked at with suspicion and if not careful, could be viewed as witches. Husbands back then could rape their wives or beat them without repercussion or shame. Wives owed their husbands sexual relations and were not expected to enjoy it. As well as a child. That was the wife's duty back in the 1700s.
Not a nice time to live in or a particularly romantic one - at least for women. I'm sure it was a lot of fun for men though. Personally? If I went back in time, I'd get a sharp knife or musket and spend quite a bit of my time threatening to castrate the men around me.
Historical romance novels often romanticize the time period. Gabadlon does not.
3. What I'm reading next?
No clue. Depends on how I feel about Outlander, if I continue the series. I may jump to something else. I sort of let the spirit guide me in these endeavors.
[Or something to that effect, I can't remember the exact wording. I thought, yeah pretty much. Plus bookstores? Less noisy and crowded. Much rather hook up or be picked up by a guy in a book store.]
Walk to work improved my balancing skills. Or skating skills. Since I pretty much skated the whole way there. Walk home was dirty and grimy, but relatively free of ice and snow, just in time for the snowstorm tonight. To prepare for the temperature drop, the apartment's radiators are on full blast. So it's warm and cozy.
I'm working on being grateful. Ranting less, complaining less, being more positive with my own thought patterns...wish me luck. Probably be more effective if I didn't speak for an hour with my mother each night (she's still struggling with her knee replacement surgery). On the other hand, I'm grateful to be able to do so.
1. What I just finished reading
Among Others by Jo Walton which won the Hugo and the Nebula Award a few years back. I don't think it was recent. I don't tend to read recent fiction for some reason. Also, it's probably worth stating that I've jumped genres again. This is a speculative science-fiction/fantasy novel.
Here's the review that I wrote for Good Reads and Amazon, or rather an edited version of that review:
Among Others is an odd book - the writing style is in some respects reminiscent of Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, except in the first person. Told completely in the voice and point of view of a 15 year old girl growing up in Wales and Shropshire, during the late 1970s and early 1980s (circa 1979-1980). If, like me, you came of age in the 1980s and late 1970s, you'll probably identify a great deal with the book. Particularly if you were a science-fiction/fantasy fan. (I was a bit broader in my reading tastes than the protagonist or the author apparently, in that I read across genres, much as I do now.)
It's written primarily in "diary" format, chapters are dated, and often not much longer than a sentence or two. And for a while it feels like nothing much is happening, since the story is more of an internalized or psychological narrative than an external action packed page turner. Fans of Harry Potter will most likely be bored.
After a traumatic incident with her insane mother, Mori (the protagonist and our erstwhile narrator) has run away from home to live with her estranged father and his three sisters, whom she compares to Shakespeare's three hags in Macbeth. In reality they are middle class aristocrats, living on an overgrown estate in Shropshire, holding teas, watching telly, and ordering their somewhat bookish and rather wimpy brother about. They send Mori off to boarding school - a prestigious all girls academy. Feeling somewhat alienated and cut off from her land, Wales, and her magic, Mori, who was crippled in the incident, struggles to fit in. Barely making friends. Until one day she spins a bit of magic - and a friendly librarian invites her to join his science fiction book club. Mori is convinced that the magic spell she spun to protect herself from her mother and attract "friends" resulted in this welcome turn of events. When in truth, it may well just be an ordinary chain of events - Mori devouring science fiction novels in the library, ordering more, until the librarians notice and feel the need to encourage her love in new ways.
If you are a librarian or adore 1970s science fiction, this is your book. It is no surprise it won the Hugo and Nebula - the book is in some respects a homage to the sci-fi novels of that period. Mori discusses at length everything from Tolkien to Silverberg, Samueal Delany, Roger Zelzany, Marion Zimmer Bradely, Ursula Le Quinn, McCaffrey, CJ Cherryh (although less so), CS Lewis, Stephen R. Donaldson (which she does not like - mainly because the publisher had the audacity to compare it to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings), Robert Heinlein (huge fan of Heinlein), Issac Asmiov, Harlan Ellison, Arthur C. Clark, and Philip K. Dick. If you are a sci-fi geek and adore these novels - you'll enjoy this novel. If you aren't, you may become a bit lost. I'm half tempted to state that this is a book that may only appeal to science fiction bibliophiles..and possibly science fiction librarians and academics. There's also some discussion of the philosophy of Socrates and Plato. [Possibly as a result of her reading material and wonky female relatives, Mori may come across as a wee bit misogynistic to some readers. She certainly has issues with women or the anima.]
Very little happens in the novel - it's not plotty. And the plot is rather simplistic - basically a young girl has to overcome the negative influences of various women in her life. It may turn off or offend feminists. The women are admittedly stronger, and the men portrayed as a bit weak. Also there's a bit of a gender flip, in that the women manipulate and use magic, are in some aspects aggressive, while the men are nurturing and supportive.
It's a fascinating psychological study though - with all sorts of interesting coming of age metaphors. Also the author plays around with the concept of magic and fairies in an innovative and interesting manner - that I've seldom seen done. The fairies may or may not actually be fairies - it remains unclear. Mori calls them fairies for lack of a better name. They are various shapes and sizes, and often intangible. Also magic - tends to work indirectly...as a sort of causal chain of events. Difficult to explain, yet more realistic. A scientific take on magic as opposed to a fantastical one.
Slow to start, but ultimately compelling and haunting. It sticks in your mind long after you read it. Mori wonders at various points if there is a downside of escaping completely into books. If she is shutting herself off? Yet it is through her books that she finds others like herself, and evolves. The act of reading - expands her consciousness and allows her to let go of her childhood, and past grievances. In some respects, the science fiction novels she devours ultimately heal her.
2. What I'm reading now?
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - a book that I attempted to read several years back and have recently, upon a co-worker's recommendation, decided to try again. Granted it is the same co-worker who recommended Roger Zelzany's Lord of Light, but generally speaking he understands my taste.
Outlander, despite its marketing, is not a romance novel. It's more of a historical science fiction fantasy novel with elements of romance. The focus isn't really on romance. And it breaks a lot of the rules of the romance genre, so does not fit neatly within it. Romance readers find it irritating, because it's not "romantic".
For one thing there is a lot of violence in the novel, which makes sense due to the heavy war theme and the time period.
The story is about a WII Army Nurse who accidentally travels back to the 1700s. It's in some respects a what-if tale. What if an English Army Nurse who had just recently served on the front lines of WWII (in this case France), finds herself back in 1743 Scotland around the time of the Jacobite Uprising? How would she survive? What issues would she have to navigate? What are the differences between how women were treated in the 1940s vs. the 1700s?
Claire Beecham Randall is visiting Scotland on a second honeymoon with her husband, Frank Randall. Frank is researching his geneaology, in particular, his somewhat colorful ancestor Black Jack Randall, Captain of the Dragoons in the 1700s and scourge of the highlands. Claire could care less about the topic, and is far more interested in the botany of the area. It's 1945. The War has just ended. They've been separated through most of it - Claire as a nurse on the front lines, and Frank as an intelligence officer behind the scenes. This is their reunion of sorts.
Claire visits a mini-stone henge or group of standing stones in Scotland - in order to check out an interesting flower, she'd seen on a previous visit with Frank. During this second visit - something odd happens, and the stones send her back through time.
Whereupon she runs head long into Black Jack Randall, and a local outfit of Scottish Clansman.
While there is a romantic interest in the story, Galabdon is far more interested in historical accuracy, and how a modern woman from the 20th Century would handled the 1700s. In particular - what are the gender politics and issues you'd need to navigate? In the 1940s women were just beginning to achieve a certain level of independence financially and physically from men. They had the right to vote. They could work at various professions that were originally held only by men. There were laws in place protecting them from rape or spousal abuse. They could serve in the military in some capacity. But in the 1700s, none of this was true. Women were treated as property, with relatively few rights, and dependent purely on the protection of a husband or father. Their occupations were limited to cook, housekeeper, wife, mother, daughter, prostitute, mid-wife, wet-nurse, healer and shop-keeper. Healers though were looked at with suspicion and if not careful, could be viewed as witches. Husbands back then could rape their wives or beat them without repercussion or shame. Wives owed their husbands sexual relations and were not expected to enjoy it. As well as a child. That was the wife's duty back in the 1700s.
Not a nice time to live in or a particularly romantic one - at least for women. I'm sure it was a lot of fun for men though. Personally? If I went back in time, I'd get a sharp knife or musket and spend quite a bit of my time threatening to castrate the men around me.
Historical romance novels often romanticize the time period. Gabadlon does not.
3. What I'm reading next?
No clue. Depends on how I feel about Outlander, if I continue the series. I may jump to something else. I sort of let the spirit guide me in these endeavors.