Wed Reading Meme and other things..

1. In the news...the 45th, who my mother has dubbed Big Bird, because he's big, he has yellow hair (used to be orange, now yellow) and he tweets. (Also he does, bear an intellectual resemblance to Sesame Street's Big Bird.) I found it funny, so stuck with it. Anyhow, he is not having a good week. ( Read more... )

2. Reading Meme

What I just read?

Oh, Lucien's Fall. It was okay. A bit on the melodramatic side. And more sex than was necessary -- I got bored after a certain point. Does get points for a half-way innovative title, and for an intriguing set-up. A Botantist falls for a Tortured Musician. The Tortured musician is a rakish Earl, who is estranged from his abusive father. The Botanist is a young woman who needs to find a husband to fix up her gardens and estate, and is currently wooing a plump Marquess with a passion for archaeology. The writer subverts the trope a bit, by not writing any villains, the Marquess is nice, the Step-mother pushing the match is nice if a bit misguided. The problem I had with the novel was the characters did stupid things. I kept wanting to smack them.


What I'm reading now?

Against the Tide by Elizabeth Camden -- this won some awards, a Christy (Christian Literature Award) and a RITA (Romance Novel Award). I've no clue why. It's not that well written and I've gotten thrown out of the story twice already. However, it is intriguing in places. But it's also, very religious, hence the Christy Award. There's a heavy Christian emphasis, so if that irritates you for any reason...

The story is about a Greek/Turkish immigrant woman, who is orphaned by her sea-faring family in Boston. She ends up in an orphanage, where she is spoon-fed opium for any ailment. Years later, she joins up with the Navy as a translator and runs across a young man who wants to rid the world of the opium trade. While helping him with various translations, including breaking into a custom's house to find evidence, she ends up, a)falling for him, and b) fired from her job, and down on her luck (more than before). He breaks up with her, that is until he has to get her help to save her former employer's child from an opium dealer. He, the hero, was once an opium dealer but found God and Christianity and is now trying to redeem himself. (He's doing a piss-poor job of it, but whatever.)
I do find the story interesting in how it shows...self-righteously fighting for a cause, no matter what it takes or how ruthless you have to be...isn't necessarily a good idea and often more about one's ego than the actual cause. The TV series Timeless weirdly is stating the same point but in a different way. So I'm guessing the universe or someone is trying to tell me something? Or not..


What I'll be reading next? No clue. Need to find some good books to read on way to Costa Rica...but I'm flummoxed. Been in a horrid reading slump.