Y: The Last Man Book One - Brian Vaughn
Intriguing conceptually, although you can tell it was written by a man by some of the dialogue choices and the Straw Feminists and everyone pretty uniformly hating on wlw? It’s also not lost on me that in this story of the world reverting to women, we’re really only following a man’s story. There are already so many more interesting characters than Yorick, and while I get the Last Man Alive gig is a great plot, there are ways it could be framed so we didn’t have to deal with a bland, self-righteous dude all the time. Nevertheless! The art is gorgeous, and the tidbits of worldbuilding are good, and I’m looking forward to resolving some of the mysteries. Hopefully future volumes will have more interesting focal characters!
Intriguing conceptually, although you can tell it was written by a man by some of the dialogue choices and the Straw Feminists and everyone pretty uniformly hating on wlw? It’s also not lost on me that in this story of the world reverting to women, we’re really only following a man’s story. There are already so many more interesting characters than Yorick, and while I get the Last Man Alive gig is a great plot, there are ways it could be framed so we didn’t have to deal with a bland, self-righteous dude all the time. Nevertheless! The art is gorgeous, and the tidbits of worldbuilding are good, and I’m looking forward to resolving some of the mysteries. Hopefully future volumes will have more interesting focal characters!
Y: The Last Man Book Two - Brian Vaughn
It’s nice to get some story with female characters! I still don’t understand why everyone is using “lesbian” and cognates as slurs? Like, maybe this is a creative decision, but it doesn’t make much sense to me. Anyway, aside from maybe too much gratuitous nudity (this graphic novel was written by a man, we get it) and a completely unnecessary storyline referencing the Marquis de Sade as a psychologist (??), this was an interesting installment! I really like the art, and the mystery of who killed all the men is still intriguing. I wish we got a bit more variety in terms of Types of Women left – so far we have violent, violent, psycho, loner, violent, hermit, violent, girl-gang, violent, psycho, and loner. Also all of them but one appear to be card-carrying heterosexuals, which is…kind of disappointing? There are a lot of missed opportunities here, I think.
It’s nice to get some story with female characters! I still don’t understand why everyone is using “lesbian” and cognates as slurs? Like, maybe this is a creative decision, but it doesn’t make much sense to me. Anyway, aside from maybe too much gratuitous nudity (this graphic novel was written by a man, we get it) and a completely unnecessary storyline referencing the Marquis de Sade as a psychologist (??), this was an interesting installment! I really like the art, and the mystery of who killed all the men is still intriguing. I wish we got a bit more variety in terms of Types of Women left – so far we have violent, violent, psycho, loner, violent, hermit, violent, girl-gang, violent, psycho, and loner. Also all of them but one appear to be card-carrying heterosexuals, which is…kind of disappointing? There are a lot of missed opportunities here, I think.
The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper
I couldn't help but feel that the worldbuilding here was clumsy. The technical writing was very good, evocative and clean, with solid characterisation and a coherent, if simplistic, plot. But, man, lots of Convenient Revelations and Convenient Rescues and even by the end my conceptual understanding was just "oh, she likes English folklore, okay" and not much else. And even for a children's novel, I didn't get the sense of urgency that the story seemed to demand; children can handle urgent stories! A solid B-, for me.
I couldn't help but feel that the worldbuilding here was clumsy. The technical writing was very good, evocative and clean, with solid characterisation and a coherent, if simplistic, plot. But, man, lots of Convenient Revelations and Convenient Rescues and even by the end my conceptual understanding was just "oh, she likes English folklore, okay" and not much else. And even for a children's novel, I didn't get the sense of urgency that the story seemed to demand; children can handle urgent stories! A solid B-, for me.
The Book on the Bookshelf - Henry Petroski
WELL. As a pseudo-librarian, ardent bibliophile, and uncontrollable acquirer of books, this tracing of the evolution of book storage solutions (and necessarily also that of the physical book itself) was FASCINATING. I love a good pop-academic book, and Petroski's style is perfect for that genre, inviting and clear and personable while still able to convey a coherent, tight, argumentative narrative, in a way that some purely academic writing can't seem in manage. This book has certainly influenced how I look at bookshelves, and given me the kind of delicious historical tidbits that I love to savour. An utter treat.
WELL. As a pseudo-librarian, ardent bibliophile, and uncontrollable acquirer of books, this tracing of the evolution of book storage solutions (and necessarily also that of the physical book itself) was FASCINATING. I love a good pop-academic book, and Petroski's style is perfect for that genre, inviting and clear and personable while still able to convey a coherent, tight, argumentative narrative, in a way that some purely academic writing can't seem in manage. This book has certainly influenced how I look at bookshelves, and given me the kind of delicious historical tidbits that I love to savour. An utter treat.
The Peripheral - William Gibson
I always get to the end of a William Gibson novel and think, "is that ALL?" I love that his small endings feel right; the point, always, is less about a big catastrophe and more about how people deal with anticipating one, with the question of how technology might impact what it means to be a person, what morality is, what things have value. The answer, in this book as in the others, is that technology never really changes anything. I loved the construction of this book: short chapters, two viewpoints, two worlds colliding. I loved Flynne like I don't usually love Gibson's characters; she feels the most present to me of any protagonist of his. I live for Gibson's worldbuilding, his pacing of explanation, his narrative structuring. I did not want this book to end.
I always get to the end of a William Gibson novel and think, "is that ALL?" I love that his small endings feel right; the point, always, is less about a big catastrophe and more about how people deal with anticipating one, with the question of how technology might impact what it means to be a person, what morality is, what things have value. The answer, in this book as in the others, is that technology never really changes anything. I loved the construction of this book: short chapters, two viewpoints, two worlds colliding. I loved Flynne like I don't usually love Gibson's characters; she feels the most present to me of any protagonist of his. I live for Gibson's worldbuilding, his pacing of explanation, his narrative structuring. I did not want this book to end.
Lost Horizon - James Hilton
There's been lots written about this book, so I won't rehash old territory and talk about all of the objectively ghastly bits. I will say that the framing device of having a story told is one that I rather like, since it allows for a bit of meta-perspective that's helpful in interpretation. I like Hilton's narrative style, although both plot and characterisation left much to be desired. Mostly, though, it was easy to put down, and I finished it largely because I kept thinking of all the books I could read once I did.
There's been lots written about this book, so I won't rehash old territory and talk about all of the objectively ghastly bits. I will say that the framing device of having a story told is one that I rather like, since it allows for a bit of meta-perspective that's helpful in interpretation. I like Hilton's narrative style, although both plot and characterisation left much to be desired. Mostly, though, it was easy to put down, and I finished it largely because I kept thinking of all the books I could read once I did.
State of Insecurity - Isabel Lorey
I felt, at times, like I was almost grasping what Lorey was saying, and the rest of the time I was just re-reading whole pages and not feeling much clearer. Usually Verso publishes really accessible scholarship, so I'm kind of disappointed? What I did glean was profound and transformative, made beautiful sense, was a convincing assessment of current trends in both government and self-government; that alone makes me want to read again and again until I understand everything. But I don't know if the second or even third read will be any easier.
I felt, at times, like I was almost grasping what Lorey was saying, and the rest of the time I was just re-reading whole pages and not feeling much clearer. Usually Verso publishes really accessible scholarship, so I'm kind of disappointed? What I did glean was profound and transformative, made beautiful sense, was a convincing assessment of current trends in both government and self-government; that alone makes me want to read again and again until I understand everything. But I don't know if the second or even third read will be any easier.
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
First, stylistically this book is a masterpiece. A Canterbury Tales frame, distinct voices and even genres within it, spun through with religion and temporal weirdness and AL and the uniting threads of love and poetry, just, my goodness. I love Simmons' worldbuilding, his revelatory pace, his sheer imagination, and his ability to make coherence out of such a shifting lot of difference. Do I wish some things were different, clearer, maybe? Perhaps, but honestly right now I can't bring myself to criticise.
First, stylistically this book is a masterpiece. A Canterbury Tales frame, distinct voices and even genres within it, spun through with religion and temporal weirdness and AL and the uniting threads of love and poetry, just, my goodness. I love Simmons' worldbuilding, his revelatory pace, his sheer imagination, and his ability to make coherence out of such a shifting lot of difference. Do I wish some things were different, clearer, maybe? Perhaps, but honestly right now I can't bring myself to criticise.
The Riverman - Aaron Starmer
Honestly, I liked this book better before the twist. It felt too...tidy? Not storylike enough, post-twist. Before that, though, unreliable narrators recounting stories of unreliable narrators, childhood and trauma and friendship, the eeriness of magical realism that may or may not be, were all super enjoyable. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series, especially since this one went so quickly.
Honestly, I liked this book better before the twist. It felt too...tidy? Not storylike enough, post-twist. Before that, though, unreliable narrators recounting stories of unreliable narrators, childhood and trauma and friendship, the eeriness of magical realism that may or may not be, were all super enjoyable. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series, especially since this one went so quickly.
The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
Firstly, on style alone this book is a winner; it's an archive historian's dream, all letters and papers and some oral histories, all documents and chronicles and missives. It was lacking, as all histories do, real emotive connection to any of the characters, and I can't decide if that slavish adherence to genre is a flaw. In any case, like all good histories it has no easy answer and no real clarity, an obviously arbitrary beginning and end (so aware, is Kostova, of the writing of history! I could love this book for that alone), and no real narrative satisfaction. I can't say that I would recommend it to the casual love of historical fiction or of vampire lore? But I appreciated so much every element of its construction that I can't help but say it is a good book.
Firstly, on style alone this book is a winner; it's an archive historian's dream, all letters and papers and some oral histories, all documents and chronicles and missives. It was lacking, as all histories do, real emotive connection to any of the characters, and I can't decide if that slavish adherence to genre is a flaw. In any case, like all good histories it has no easy answer and no real clarity, an obviously arbitrary beginning and end (so aware, is Kostova, of the writing of history! I could love this book for that alone), and no real narrative satisfaction. I can't say that I would recommend it to the casual love of historical fiction or of vampire lore? But I appreciated so much every element of its construction that I can't help but say it is a good book.
The Book of Tea - Kakuzo Okakura
Passionate and evocative, political as much as philosophical, deeply historical and utterly elegant. I didn't learn much new about tea, but I did gain an insider's perspective on a fraught moment in the history of a culture trying to determine how it could possibly be "modern" without losing its identity, what it might mean to resist cultural hegemony, and how to stake an incontestable claim to civilisation and high art. This little book is a love letter to a fiercely cherished identity, where tea acts as a metonym for what it means to be Japanese in the Meiji Restoration.
Passionate and evocative, political as much as philosophical, deeply historical and utterly elegant. I didn't learn much new about tea, but I did gain an insider's perspective on a fraught moment in the history of a culture trying to determine how it could possibly be "modern" without losing its identity, what it might mean to resist cultural hegemony, and how to stake an incontestable claim to civilisation and high art. This little book is a love letter to a fiercely cherished identity, where tea acts as a metonym for what it means to be Japanese in the Meiji Restoration.
Deryni Rising - Katherine Kurtz
UGH just give me religion in all my high fantasy, thanks. While the writing in this is nothing to write home about, the plot is well-structured and deliciously, comfortably predictable, the characters sympathetic (and remarkably easy to click with despite the short length of the book!), and the conceit of the world is just delightful. As a lover of liturgy, saintly life-narratives, and church history (and European history of this period!), I absolutely adore what Kurtz is doing with her magic vs. The Church. Also, a wizard-saint? Very yes.
UGH just give me religion in all my high fantasy, thanks. While the writing in this is nothing to write home about, the plot is well-structured and deliciously, comfortably predictable, the characters sympathetic (and remarkably easy to click with despite the short length of the book!), and the conceit of the world is just delightful. As a lover of liturgy, saintly life-narratives, and church history (and European history of this period!), I absolutely adore what Kurtz is doing with her magic vs. The Church. Also, a wizard-saint? Very yes.
Deryni Checkmate - Katherine Kurtz
I don't know that this book would have been as emotionally impactful to a reader who didn't love the liturgy and the sacraments of the Church the way that I do; it is written with such an awareness of liturgical dynamic and its pervasiveness in everyway life as I have rarely seen. And this one also felt like the second book in a trilogy (another rarity!), a real following from the first and setup for the third, where I usually find second books to be merely self-contained episodes.
I don't know that this book would have been as emotionally impactful to a reader who didn't love the liturgy and the sacraments of the Church the way that I do; it is written with such an awareness of liturgical dynamic and its pervasiveness in everyway life as I have rarely seen. And this one also felt like the second book in a trilogy (another rarity!), a real following from the first and setup for the third, where I usually find second books to be merely self-contained episodes.
High Deryni - Katherin Kurtz
Everything wrapped up neatly (although Morgan's and Richenda's thing never was satisfactorily explained and Duncan's resolution to his internal angst was almost...perfunctory), and some nice character development! I particularly appreciated the introduction of the young, upstart bishop who was also a standing member of a magical council. Kurtz knows just exactly when to close the curtain on a scene wherein details would be gratuitous, a remarkable economy that serves the book well. The conceptual work here is also particularly tidy, and is definitely the best part of the whole trilogy.
Everything wrapped up neatly (although Morgan's and Richenda's thing never was satisfactorily explained and Duncan's resolution to his internal angst was almost...perfunctory), and some nice character development! I particularly appreciated the introduction of the young, upstart bishop who was also a standing member of a magical council. Kurtz knows just exactly when to close the curtain on a scene wherein details would be gratuitous, a remarkable economy that serves the book well. The conceptual work here is also particularly tidy, and is definitely the best part of the whole trilogy.
Trell - Dick Lehr
I don't think this book needed to be in the first person, although I appreciated how Lehr distanced himself from his own story to centre the experience of someone really at the heart of it. For a dramatisation, it was really well-accomplished; for a novelisation, it left something to be desired. The evolution of a character or of their self-knowledge over the course of a narrative, and not just in the superficial way Trell changes, is always for me the crucial factor in the success of a novel. Most manage it, although not always satisfactorily, but Lehr does not even gesture toward it, still, perhaps, too much the journalist. The story itself is compelling, though, and Lehr's perceptiveness about the issues that make its context are worked beautifully into the fabric of the narrative.
I don't think this book needed to be in the first person, although I appreciated how Lehr distanced himself from his own story to centre the experience of someone really at the heart of it. For a dramatisation, it was really well-accomplished; for a novelisation, it left something to be desired. The evolution of a character or of their self-knowledge over the course of a narrative, and not just in the superficial way Trell changes, is always for me the crucial factor in the success of a novel. Most manage it, although not always satisfactorily, but Lehr does not even gesture toward it, still, perhaps, too much the journalist. The story itself is compelling, though, and Lehr's perceptiveness about the issues that make its context are worked beautifully into the fabric of the narrative.
Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi
UNRELIABLE NARRATORS ARE THE ONLY REAL REASON FOR FIRST-PERSON NARRATION. Oyeyemi captures so much, here, about being and not-being, about love and friendship and the solidarity of women, about companionship and strength and utter, bone-deep weakness. She understands sisters, and daughters, and mothers as well, and she understands how trauma breaks into every cell of one's body. The novel is explicitly about whiteness and the worship thereof, and I love how brutally open Oyeyemi is about her theme, but it's also about the cyclical nature of pain and shame, and the ways in which confronting and loving their sources can break that cycle. The writing here is just on the cusp of folkloric, is lyric while somehow also being fresh and modern, is pointed in all its simplicity. What a book!
UNRELIABLE NARRATORS ARE THE ONLY REAL REASON FOR FIRST-PERSON NARRATION. Oyeyemi captures so much, here, about being and not-being, about love and friendship and the solidarity of women, about companionship and strength and utter, bone-deep weakness. She understands sisters, and daughters, and mothers as well, and she understands how trauma breaks into every cell of one's body. The novel is explicitly about whiteness and the worship thereof, and I love how brutally open Oyeyemi is about her theme, but it's also about the cyclical nature of pain and shame, and the ways in which confronting and loving their sources can break that cycle. The writing here is just on the cusp of folkloric, is lyric while somehow also being fresh and modern, is pointed in all its simplicity. What a book!
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making - Catherine Valente
If 2018 becomes the year of folkloric novels, I will not complain; thus far, they've been for the most part stellar, and this book is no exception. Valente is such a stylistically conscious writer, and I love how every choice she makes, down to the word, feels careful and artful and in service of the very particular kind of narrative she is spinning. September is a wonderful protagonist, Ell and Saturday excellent sidekicks, the Marquess a perfect villain who is like the epitome of "cool motive; still murder" and the whole a wonderful intervention into the nature of children and humankind both, as all good fairy stories are.
If 2018 becomes the year of folkloric novels, I will not complain; thus far, they've been for the most part stellar, and this book is no exception. Valente is such a stylistically conscious writer, and I love how every choice she makes, down to the word, feels careful and artful and in service of the very particular kind of narrative she is spinning. September is a wonderful protagonist, Ell and Saturday excellent sidekicks, the Marquess a perfect villain who is like the epitome of "cool motive; still murder" and the whole a wonderful intervention into the nature of children and humankind both, as all good fairy stories are.
Envisioning Real Utopias - Erik Olin Wright
I read this book, and then I read it into an audiobook for my dad, who hassles me all the time about whether the problems I articulate with the world as it is have any real, meaningful solutions. This work is a profoundly hopeful one, not optimistic necessarily but, resting on theoretical uncertainty and historical precedent, nevertheless hopeful. Wright's writing is clear, easy to follow, the book an academic work written for non-academics yet still lucid and complex in its conviction and convincingness both. It articulates problems and possible solutions with such a deep understanding of social dynamics (missing both gendered and racial explicitly, but somehow not the poorer for it) that, although sceptical in many ways, I am convinced of the rationality of Wright's position and convicted anew of the need for us to make the solarpunk future of our dreams through interstitial, anarchic action grounded in radical egalitarianism.
I read this book, and then I read it into an audiobook for my dad, who hassles me all the time about whether the problems I articulate with the world as it is have any real, meaningful solutions. This work is a profoundly hopeful one, not optimistic necessarily but, resting on theoretical uncertainty and historical precedent, nevertheless hopeful. Wright's writing is clear, easy to follow, the book an academic work written for non-academics yet still lucid and complex in its conviction and convincingness both. It articulates problems and possible solutions with such a deep understanding of social dynamics (missing both gendered and racial explicitly, but somehow not the poorer for it) that, although sceptical in many ways, I am convinced of the rationality of Wright's position and convicted anew of the need for us to make the solarpunk future of our dreams through interstitial, anarchic action grounded in radical egalitarianism.
The Summer Tree - Guy Gavriel Kay
This book is beautiful because in its margins and the spaces between its sentences a lawyer and a fantasy reader becomes an author. I was only mildly intrigued when my grandmother, matron of all my readings and knower of all my depths, first gave it to my fourteen-year-old self. It initially took me almost two years to pick up the rest of the trilogy, but since then Kay has become one of my favourite authors. This is my first time back into this particular work, and I am retrospectively proud of fourteen-year-old Jessica's tastes. It's still bad. Derivative, overblown, overwritten, underplotted, far too many italicised phrases, relying on sexual violence for its tension in a way I like even less now than I did then. But in the morass of this bad book Kay reveals the first glimmers of that talent that makes his later work so compelling: he knows how to make characters that people will love. These I love now because I know their stories, and I didn't quite love them at fourteen, and I don't think they are quite love-worthy on a first reading. But the talent is there, latent, and by the end of this book, Kay has become a fantasy author.
This book is beautiful because in its margins and the spaces between its sentences a lawyer and a fantasy reader becomes an author. I was only mildly intrigued when my grandmother, matron of all my readings and knower of all my depths, first gave it to my fourteen-year-old self. It initially took me almost two years to pick up the rest of the trilogy, but since then Kay has become one of my favourite authors. This is my first time back into this particular work, and I am retrospectively proud of fourteen-year-old Jessica's tastes. It's still bad. Derivative, overblown, overwritten, underplotted, far too many italicised phrases, relying on sexual violence for its tension in a way I like even less now than I did then. But in the morass of this bad book Kay reveals the first glimmers of that talent that makes his later work so compelling: he knows how to make characters that people will love. These I love now because I know their stories, and I didn't quite love them at fourteen, and I don't think they are quite love-worthy on a first reading. But the talent is there, latent, and by the end of this book, Kay has become a fantasy author.
The Wandering Fire - Guy Gavriel Kay
The problem with THIS book is that Kay has abandoned the writing of narrative for the writing of snippet fiction. The book is only snapshots barely srung together, character and plot both developing primarily in the blank spaces. The writing is, technically, already much improved, already more lyrical, although still overblown, and more overblown, I think, than is intentional. But Kay wrings emotion from these shards of time, creates bonds and a sense of knowing the characters and the world without actually writing much of either. This base skill will serve his future novels well, although thankfully he will augment it with genuine narrative and real, rather than this book's artificial, depth.
The problem with THIS book is that Kay has abandoned the writing of narrative for the writing of snippet fiction. The book is only snapshots barely srung together, character and plot both developing primarily in the blank spaces. The writing is, technically, already much improved, already more lyrical, although still overblown, and more overblown, I think, than is intentional. But Kay wrings emotion from these shards of time, creates bonds and a sense of knowing the characters and the world without actually writing much of either. This base skill will serve his future novels well, although thankfully he will augment it with genuine narrative and real, rather than this book's artificial, depth.
The Darkest Road - Guy Gavriel Kay
Here, finally, we get true homage to, rather than simply wholesale borrowing from, Tolkien. And also a first taste of Kay's obsession with three-pointed relationships, the dynamics of equilateral triangles. And also the profound satisfaction all his books have, that everything in them has been significant, will come back to make the ending what it is. It captures the mythic voice, finally, and also the profound heternormativity of Kay's view of the world in its most elemental nature; he is fond of binary oppositions and it shows in this book rather overwhelmingly. But, still. The best-written of the trilogy, and a really emotionally impactful novel, a good statement of the kind of deep truths fantasy as a genre can be so good at unearthing.
Here, finally, we get true homage to, rather than simply wholesale borrowing from, Tolkien. And also a first taste of Kay's obsession with three-pointed relationships, the dynamics of equilateral triangles. And also the profound satisfaction all his books have, that everything in them has been significant, will come back to make the ending what it is. It captures the mythic voice, finally, and also the profound heternormativity of Kay's view of the world in its most elemental nature; he is fond of binary oppositions and it shows in this book rather overwhelmingly. But, still. The best-written of the trilogy, and a really emotionally impactful novel, a good statement of the kind of deep truths fantasy as a genre can be so good at unearthing.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - N. K. Jemisin
I like this book less than I did the first time through, and the only reason I can identify (because the plot and the setting and the characters and Jemisin's delectable style are as good) is the pacing. The book feels...rushed? Almost from the beginning, and not intentionally so. I don't feel as though a lot of the development of both plot and character is deserved, with what little we get of the space between. Jemisin is great at inexorable, inevitable, but here those things just don't quite gel, they're missing some fill, some bulk, something to weigh them down. I am still enamoured with the book, but less so, and that's sad.
I like this book less than I did the first time through, and the only reason I can identify (because the plot and the setting and the characters and Jemisin's delectable style are as good) is the pacing. The book feels...rushed? Almost from the beginning, and not intentionally so. I don't feel as though a lot of the development of both plot and character is deserved, with what little we get of the space between. Jemisin is great at inexorable, inevitable, but here those things just don't quite gel, they're missing some fill, some bulk, something to weigh them down. I am still enamoured with the book, but less so, and that's sad.
Playing the Whore - Melissa Gira Grant
What a great, succinct, careful and yet so necessarily assertive book! I have been reading a lot this spring about sex workers' rights as workers' rights, and thinking a lot about classic anti-capitalist ideas, and really trying to seek out Own Voices narratives. I love Grants's unwillingness to capitulate to the desires we have to consume sex workers' lives and narratives, to depersonalise, to seek out that which titillates and which we pretend horrifies. I struggle with the commodification of the body and the fine line between calling for the rights especially of workers whose bodies are commodified (physical labourers, sex workers) and condoning an economic system wherein commodified bodies are needed at all. I am troubled and inspired by this slim book.
What a great, succinct, careful and yet so necessarily assertive book! I have been reading a lot this spring about sex workers' rights as workers' rights, and thinking a lot about classic anti-capitalist ideas, and really trying to seek out Own Voices narratives. I love Grants's unwillingness to capitulate to the desires we have to consume sex workers' lives and narratives, to depersonalise, to seek out that which titillates and which we pretend horrifies. I struggle with the commodification of the body and the fine line between calling for the rights especially of workers whose bodies are commodified (physical labourers, sex workers) and condoning an economic system wherein commodified bodies are needed at all. I am troubled and inspired by this slim book.
The Broken Kingdoms - N.K. Jemisin
This book, on second reading, was MUCH more appealing. I think the first time through I had to spend a lot of time getting over the fact that Jemisin was not writing another story about Yeine and Nahadoth? Anyway, the descriptive here is especially superb, and the characters utterly compelling. The pace is better, too, although it seems like there are at least three denouements and even Jemisin's considerable talent doesn't make that any easier to stomach. I love this book, though, I think the most of the trilogy.
This book, on second reading, was MUCH more appealing. I think the first time through I had to spend a lot of time getting over the fact that Jemisin was not writing another story about Yeine and Nahadoth? Anyway, the descriptive here is especially superb, and the characters utterly compelling. The pace is better, too, although it seems like there are at least three denouements and even Jemisin's considerable talent doesn't make that any easier to stomach. I love this book, though, I think the most of the trilogy.
The Kingdom of the Gods - N.K. Jemisin
Ahhh, no, THIS book is why I loved this trilogy so much. Jemisin has finally really nailed how to make narrative flow and style fit with the distinctive voice of her narrator (a technique present in the previous novels but not with this virtuosity). The story is beautifully paced to match Sieh's own changing pace, and the whole trilogy feels wrapped up in a way that things like this usually don't? There is deep emotion and utterly perfect character development and a plot that manages to be as unexpected-yet-inevitable the second time around, and I love it wholly.
Ahhh, no, THIS book is why I loved this trilogy so much. Jemisin has finally really nailed how to make narrative flow and style fit with the distinctive voice of her narrator (a technique present in the previous novels but not with this virtuosity). The story is beautifully paced to match Sieh's own changing pace, and the whole trilogy feels wrapped up in a way that things like this usually don't? There is deep emotion and utterly perfect character development and a plot that manages to be as unexpected-yet-inevitable the second time around, and I love it wholly.
The Awakened Kingdom - N.K. Jemisin
There isn't as much to this novella as to the novels it accompanies, but somehow there is more. I love how it manages to reveal so much about the way that this very particular world works, and I love how, as proper speculative fiction should, it reveals a lot about the absurdity of some of the ways our own world works. I also love the charmingness of the characters, and that Jemisin knows how to use the first-person properly. This novella is such a nice, playful, refreshing cap to an otherwise emotionally turbulent series, the perfect ending.
There isn't as much to this novella as to the novels it accompanies, but somehow there is more. I love how it manages to reveal so much about the way that this very particular world works, and I love how, as proper speculative fiction should, it reveals a lot about the absurdity of some of the ways our own world works. I also love the charmingness of the characters, and that Jemisin knows how to use the first-person properly. This novella is such a nice, playful, refreshing cap to an otherwise emotionally turbulent series, the perfect ending.
A House without Windows - Nadia Hashimi
I love Hashimi's narrative style; it feels just slightly off, just slightly not-right, and it fits the actual narrative beautifully. Some of the plotting is heavy-handed, and the pacing could be better, and the reveals are a little too tidy for my taste, but these are, in the end, small gripes about a book that I found hard to put down. It's a compelling story told adeptly, with characters who jump from the page and relationships that feel palpably real.
I love Hashimi's narrative style; it feels just slightly off, just slightly not-right, and it fits the actual narrative beautifully. Some of the plotting is heavy-handed, and the pacing could be better, and the reveals are a little too tidy for my taste, but these are, in the end, small gripes about a book that I found hard to put down. It's a compelling story told adeptly, with characters who jump from the page and relationships that feel palpably real.
The Experience of Defeat - Christopher Hill
A hard book to get into, written beautifully but for specialists. How simple would it have been to toss a half-dozen explanatory footnotes in? Verso is not a strictly academic publisher, and I must confess surprise at the absence of even that gesture to accessibility. Beyond having to google several important things (fun in itself, if a bit difficult when one mostly reads in transit), this is a fascinating investigation into the minds of religious and areligious (!!!) radicals who are not at all what I was taught they were. Quakers and the rhetoric of violence, Fifth Monarchists and Muggletonians and millennarianism, Cromwell and his uncertain allegiances, the Army as God's, Milton and the idea that all churches are apostate and all of Christian history a lie, all true religion entirely internal. How these ideas shaped our world, my own experiences of religion and politics both! I will definitely be reading more about this era.
A hard book to get into, written beautifully but for specialists. How simple would it have been to toss a half-dozen explanatory footnotes in? Verso is not a strictly academic publisher, and I must confess surprise at the absence of even that gesture to accessibility. Beyond having to google several important things (fun in itself, if a bit difficult when one mostly reads in transit), this is a fascinating investigation into the minds of religious and areligious (!!!) radicals who are not at all what I was taught they were. Quakers and the rhetoric of violence, Fifth Monarchists and Muggletonians and millennarianism, Cromwell and his uncertain allegiances, the Army as God's, Milton and the idea that all churches are apostate and all of Christian history a lie, all true religion entirely internal. How these ideas shaped our world, my own experiences of religion and politics both! I will definitely be reading more about this era.
The Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay
I still think this is the best book Kay has ever written. I still find it gripping, eleven years and so many re-reads later, still can't put it down. I am still incapable of approaching it critically, although this time I tried very hard to do so. It breaks my heart and it ruins me, every time, from meeting Ammar as he goes to kill the last khalif to those three glasses of wine left out in mourning. It is the pinnacle of Kay's meditations on love (for another person, for other people, for a land, for a parent, for a child, for a cause, for a god, for a way of life), what it does to us, what it makes us do. I can never read it in public because I spend all my time crying, or else laughing aloud, and I am more than half in love with all the characters.
I still think this is the best book Kay has ever written. I still find it gripping, eleven years and so many re-reads later, still can't put it down. I am still incapable of approaching it critically, although this time I tried very hard to do so. It breaks my heart and it ruins me, every time, from meeting Ammar as he goes to kill the last khalif to those three glasses of wine left out in mourning. It is the pinnacle of Kay's meditations on love (for another person, for other people, for a land, for a parent, for a child, for a cause, for a god, for a way of life), what it does to us, what it makes us do. I can never read it in public because I spend all my time crying, or else laughing aloud, and I am more than half in love with all the characters.
The Forge of God - Greg Bear
This is kind of dated both stylistically and narratively and not quite what I thought it would be, with Anvil of Stars in mind. Reading a series in reverse (albeit unintentionally) is also maybe not the best way to go about things, as in the second book one is almost always a better writer, but I digress. I will complain mostly about the lack of female viewpoint characters? Like you are writing an alien invasion - and quite cleverly - the least you can do is have ONE of your many viewpoint characters be not a middle-aged white Anglo-American man. Reuben, who gets two small sections and is subjected to the only graphically depicted violence in the whole book, doesn't count. And yet! And yet, what a captivating story, what a book that truly serves not simply to set up the more complicated questions of its sequel, but itself asks: what does it mean to call a place home? What will you do in defence of your home, in vengeance when it is gone, in love for it while it lives? And the book asks of family the same questions. For that, it is worth reading, style notwithstanding.
This is kind of dated both stylistically and narratively and not quite what I thought it would be, with Anvil of Stars in mind. Reading a series in reverse (albeit unintentionally) is also maybe not the best way to go about things, as in the second book one is almost always a better writer, but I digress. I will complain mostly about the lack of female viewpoint characters? Like you are writing an alien invasion - and quite cleverly - the least you can do is have ONE of your many viewpoint characters be not a middle-aged white Anglo-American man. Reuben, who gets two small sections and is subjected to the only graphically depicted violence in the whole book, doesn't count. And yet! And yet, what a captivating story, what a book that truly serves not simply to set up the more complicated questions of its sequel, but itself asks: what does it mean to call a place home? What will you do in defence of your home, in vengeance when it is gone, in love for it while it lives? And the book asks of family the same questions. For that, it is worth reading, style notwithstanding.
The Whisper - Aaron Starmer
I'm still not certain I like this series. I think the biggest thing is a worldbuilding challenge: what are the real-world consequences? Maybe volume three will answer that, but right now it's such a pressing question that I can't stop thinking about it, and it distracted me from a reasonably well-executed denouement. Middle volumes are tricky at best, and this one just felt…episodic, and not in an enjoyable (or, I think, an intentional) way. Starmer's writing is engaging, though! It kept me reading despite the narrative issues.
I'm still not certain I like this series. I think the biggest thing is a worldbuilding challenge: what are the real-world consequences? Maybe volume three will answer that, but right now it's such a pressing question that I can't stop thinking about it, and it distracted me from a reasonably well-executed denouement. Middle volumes are tricky at best, and this one just felt…episodic, and not in an enjoyable (or, I think, an intentional) way. Starmer's writing is engaging, though! It kept me reading despite the narrative issues.
Camber of Culdi - Katherine Kurtz
I don't know if the kind of moral ambiguity of our main characters was intentional? Kurtz didn't really address it, and it felt like she just kind of brute-forced her way through a character who she made too different from what she wanted to accomplish with him. The pacing of the novel was all wrong, too, which is not something I expected, given how well-paced her earlier trilogy is! I don't know that I like any of the characters, either, which also surprised me. I kind of expected this to read like a hagiography, though, so perhaps my expectations are really what betrayed me.
I don't know if the kind of moral ambiguity of our main characters was intentional? Kurtz didn't really address it, and it felt like she just kind of brute-forced her way through a character who she made too different from what she wanted to accomplish with him. The pacing of the novel was all wrong, too, which is not something I expected, given how well-paced her earlier trilogy is! I don't know that I like any of the characters, either, which also surprised me. I kind of expected this to read like a hagiography, though, so perhaps my expectations are really what betrayed me.
Inventing the Future - Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams
A chock-full-of-good-sense book, written as accessibly as anything in Verso's catalogue, brilliant and cutting, grounded in history. Difficult to agree, for me, with the thesis that setting up structures is a way into the future, but the wrestling with myself on that subject is still ongoing, I think, and it will be a good while before I've fully digested a lot of the ideas here and worked out what to do with them. Because for all this book is a rhetorical force, it is also eminently practical. It emphasises hope, it demands engagement, it provokes action on so many levels that I found myself wanting to follow every avenue! An inspiring work, a hard work, a necessary intervention.
A chock-full-of-good-sense book, written as accessibly as anything in Verso's catalogue, brilliant and cutting, grounded in history. Difficult to agree, for me, with the thesis that setting up structures is a way into the future, but the wrestling with myself on that subject is still ongoing, I think, and it will be a good while before I've fully digested a lot of the ideas here and worked out what to do with them. Because for all this book is a rhetorical force, it is also eminently practical. It emphasises hope, it demands engagement, it provokes action on so many levels that I found myself wanting to follow every avenue! An inspiring work, a hard work, a necessary intervention.
Dear Jane Austen - Patrice Hannon
What a delightful premise! The epistolary advice suffers somewhat from the author's scholarly inclinations (it reads, in many places, like an article rather than an authorial meditation from Jane herself), and I do wish the frame device had been explicated at the beginning, as it rather contextualises the types of questions and the tone of the answers, which is sometimes unexpectedly brusque. But a sweet read, overall, and a good idea. I read it at the end of a week of reading a really in-depth Pride and Prejudice fanfiction that featured characters and plots from all the books, so it was a nice closing meditation.
What a delightful premise! The epistolary advice suffers somewhat from the author's scholarly inclinations (it reads, in many places, like an article rather than an authorial meditation from Jane herself), and I do wish the frame device had been explicated at the beginning, as it rather contextualises the types of questions and the tone of the answers, which is sometimes unexpectedly brusque. But a sweet read, overall, and a good idea. I read it at the end of a week of reading a really in-depth Pride and Prejudice fanfiction that featured characters and plots from all the books, so it was a nice closing meditation.
The War of the Flowers - Tad Williams
I read all 816 pages of this book because it wasn't bad enough to stop, but it never really gripped me. I can't believe a fantasy novel with a mostly coherent plot, reasonably solid worldbuilding, and a diverse cast of characters (albeit with the genre-standard racist and sexist overtones) was this boring. It was one of the least engaging books I've ever read? And I'm not sure why or how.
I read all 816 pages of this book because it wasn't bad enough to stop, but it never really gripped me. I can't believe a fantasy novel with a mostly coherent plot, reasonably solid worldbuilding, and a diverse cast of characters (albeit with the genre-standard racist and sexist overtones) was this boring. It was one of the least engaging books I've ever read? And I'm not sure why or how.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
I had forgotten that this book was a mystery novel! And I had forgotten the precise nature of the twist, so it was that delightful kind of frustration to try to piece it together while re-reading. I had not forgotten, though, how amazing this book is, how brilliantly written, how carefully plotted, how utterly surprising and perfectly inevitable. After being in grad school, there was an added layer of poignancy to the whole thing, although of course father-daughter relationships, bibliophilia, radical political, and the intoxicating feeling of Actual Cool Kids adopting you (or seeming to) are all things that the years have only solidified as part of my identity. This is a book that is too much like me (and yet so very unlike), and I loved it as much this time as when I first read it.
I had forgotten that this book was a mystery novel! And I had forgotten the precise nature of the twist, so it was that delightful kind of frustration to try to piece it together while re-reading. I had not forgotten, though, how amazing this book is, how brilliantly written, how carefully plotted, how utterly surprising and perfectly inevitable. After being in grad school, there was an added layer of poignancy to the whole thing, although of course father-daughter relationships, bibliophilia, radical political, and the intoxicating feeling of Actual Cool Kids adopting you (or seeming to) are all things that the years have only solidified as part of my identity. This is a book that is too much like me (and yet so very unlike), and I loved it as much this time as when I first read it.
Monstress Volume 1: Awakening - Marjorie Liu
Lots of worldbuilding setup here, and good plot setup, but not quite…enough? I don't know, I'm not exactly a connoisseur of the graphic novel/serialised comic format, so I think I am still puzzling out the genre conventions. But what art! What already complex depths! What - my kryptonite - religiosity hovering over everything. Witch-nun-scientist-torturers? Old gods no one really knows anything about? Cats as the oldest (and probably the smartest let's be real) lifeforms? Hints of sisterhood and siblinghood more generally? And, again, the unspeakably gorgeous art. I'm so excited for the rest!
Lots of worldbuilding setup here, and good plot setup, but not quite…enough? I don't know, I'm not exactly a connoisseur of the graphic novel/serialised comic format, so I think I am still puzzling out the genre conventions. But what art! What already complex depths! What - my kryptonite - religiosity hovering over everything. Witch-nun-scientist-torturers? Old gods no one really knows anything about? Cats as the oldest (and probably the smartest let's be real) lifeforms? Hints of sisterhood and siblinghood more generally? And, again, the unspeakably gorgeous art. I'm so excited for the rest!
Leviathan Wakes - James S.A. Corey
Hard SF with a noir feel, a bit of Star Trek's grittier side, a few notes of optimism, and a real, biting plot. The accolades comparing it to A Song of Ice and Fire do it a disservice; the narrative structure here is careful and detailed, elegantly simple. I am tired of reading stories of men and their specifically masculine problems, though, stories where women feature only as brilliant, sexy helpmeets or points of obsession rather than as main characters. I am bored with futures where the gender binary reigns, still, unquestioned, unlike the other brilliant questions this book raises about so many divergent aspects of human nature. I'm looking very much forward to future installments of the plot, particularly if we get some female viewpoint characters.
Hard SF with a noir feel, a bit of Star Trek's grittier side, a few notes of optimism, and a real, biting plot. The accolades comparing it to A Song of Ice and Fire do it a disservice; the narrative structure here is careful and detailed, elegantly simple. I am tired of reading stories of men and their specifically masculine problems, though, stories where women feature only as brilliant, sexy helpmeets or points of obsession rather than as main characters. I am bored with futures where the gender binary reigns, still, unquestioned, unlike the other brilliant questions this book raises about so many divergent aspects of human nature. I'm looking very much forward to future installments of the plot, particularly if we get some female viewpoint characters.
Still Life - Louise Penny
I will freely admit that Louise Penny is a completely charming writer. Perhaps my eye-rolling at detective novels has finally met its match. This book describes a way of life and a type of people that is at once familiar and foreign, nostalgic and modern. The characters are compelling, the plot reasonable if a little predictable, and although I found the moralising rather preachy and the "happily ever after"-style ending a little contrived, it was still a delightful, enjoyable read that I consumed in less than a day. And, since I inherited all of this series from my grandmother, I have no excuse not to read the next one.
I will freely admit that Louise Penny is a completely charming writer. Perhaps my eye-rolling at detective novels has finally met its match. This book describes a way of life and a type of people that is at once familiar and foreign, nostalgic and modern. The characters are compelling, the plot reasonable if a little predictable, and although I found the moralising rather preachy and the "happily ever after"-style ending a little contrived, it was still a delightful, enjoyable read that I consumed in less than a day. And, since I inherited all of this series from my grandmother, I have no excuse not to read the next one.
Journey to the River Sea - Eva Ibbotson
This was my favourite novel for several years after I first read it when I was probably about 12. And it holds up! The racism is more apparent to me now, the exoticisation and the just-a-little-insulting terminology and characterisations, but otherwise this stands, still, as one of my favourite books. I love Miss Minton and Maia, adore Finn, am soothed by the fairly black and white morality (children's books make the world so wonderfully simple), and, as an adult reader, am deeply impressed by the carefulness of the pacing and the brilliant simplicity of the plot. And to end the book on the climax! How daring, how delightful. This book is one of my oldest friends and I will never, I suspect, tire of returning to it.
This was my favourite novel for several years after I first read it when I was probably about 12. And it holds up! The racism is more apparent to me now, the exoticisation and the just-a-little-insulting terminology and characterisations, but otherwise this stands, still, as one of my favourite books. I love Miss Minton and Maia, adore Finn, am soothed by the fairly black and white morality (children's books make the world so wonderfully simple), and, as an adult reader, am deeply impressed by the carefulness of the pacing and the brilliant simplicity of the plot. And to end the book on the climax! How daring, how delightful. This book is one of my oldest friends and I will never, I suspect, tire of returning to it.
Riot. Strike. Riot. - Joshua Clover
A book difficult to make sense of for someone not steeped in Marxism's vocabulary (which I am gradually unbecoming but it is hard work!), but what explanatory power, nonetheless. I credit that mostly to exemplary structuring and careful roadmapping (editor!Jessica was in heaven), but also the really well-balanced blend of in-depth research and independent argument-making. Do I wish it had been weighted more toward the end than the beginning? Yes. Do I wish there had been a coherent account of the middle term? Also yes. But the tantalising presence of the commune, the solid argumentation, and the focus on both exonerating the riot and allowing it to be precisely what it appears make up for these deficiencies, almost. A helpful book, perhaps even a foundational one.
A book difficult to make sense of for someone not steeped in Marxism's vocabulary (which I am gradually unbecoming but it is hard work!), but what explanatory power, nonetheless. I credit that mostly to exemplary structuring and careful roadmapping (editor!Jessica was in heaven), but also the really well-balanced blend of in-depth research and independent argument-making. Do I wish it had been weighted more toward the end than the beginning? Yes. Do I wish there had been a coherent account of the middle term? Also yes. But the tantalising presence of the commune, the solid argumentation, and the focus on both exonerating the riot and allowing it to be precisely what it appears make up for these deficiencies, almost. A helpful book, perhaps even a foundational one.
Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
All of the lit bros I know will cry blasphemy, but this is a bad book. It reads like Eco is insisting throughout on his own brilliance, and, my goodness. God save us all from brilliant men, especially when the stories they write are about other men obsessed with their own brilliance (or obsessed with possessing women, you know, which they deserve, because they're brilliant). No, thank you. Eco's skill as a technical writer is the only thing that kept me reading this frigid, self-important drivel.
All of the lit bros I know will cry blasphemy, but this is a bad book. It reads like Eco is insisting throughout on his own brilliance, and, my goodness. God save us all from brilliant men, especially when the stories they write are about other men obsessed with their own brilliance (or obsessed with possessing women, you know, which they deserve, because they're brilliant). No, thank you. Eco's skill as a technical writer is the only thing that kept me reading this frigid, self-important drivel.
Women at Work in Medieval Europe - Madeline Cosman
The premise here is intriguing (penal and judicial records are a good source for uncovering the kind of work that women did), but the execution is flawed. Firstly, the treatment of each area is so cursory, the simple fact of matronymics relied upon so heavily, that the book reads more like a collection of very draft-stage proposals for future research. Secondly, the lack of citation (notwithstanding an extensive, if slightly outdated, bibliography) is unconscionable on its own, but paired with the lack of any kind of analytical detail or evidence of a variety of investigative techniques it makes the work seem amateur-ish - which it is. Cosman is a lawyer, a sort-of historian of medical malpractice, who is so very clearly out of her depth with this subject matter (and with the work of the historian!) and equally clearly has no idea that she is foundering. This work succeeded in convincing me that her thesis - that women worked in a variety of fields as equals with men - is wrong, despite my own independent knowledge that they did.
The premise here is intriguing (penal and judicial records are a good source for uncovering the kind of work that women did), but the execution is flawed. Firstly, the treatment of each area is so cursory, the simple fact of matronymics relied upon so heavily, that the book reads more like a collection of very draft-stage proposals for future research. Secondly, the lack of citation (notwithstanding an extensive, if slightly outdated, bibliography) is unconscionable on its own, but paired with the lack of any kind of analytical detail or evidence of a variety of investigative techniques it makes the work seem amateur-ish - which it is. Cosman is a lawyer, a sort-of historian of medical malpractice, who is so very clearly out of her depth with this subject matter (and with the work of the historian!) and equally clearly has no idea that she is foundering. This work succeeded in convincing me that her thesis - that women worked in a variety of fields as equals with men - is wrong, despite my own independent knowledge that they did.
Into the Drowning Deep - Mira Grant
I'm not usually a horror person, but this read more like hard scifi (although biology, not the physics that is the hard SF standby! Novel and delightful) that just happened to have a really high death toll, which was perfectly acceptable to me. Conceptually brilliant, deliciously written, lots of good character meat to crunch on. A bit weird on the pacing, and too many plotlines that were left dangling at the end (maybe that's a genre hallmark? I don't know, I like plot tidiness, so all the avenues not contributing to anything but the horror were disappointing), but overall a thoroughly enjoyable read.
I'm not usually a horror person, but this read more like hard scifi (although biology, not the physics that is the hard SF standby! Novel and delightful) that just happened to have a really high death toll, which was perfectly acceptable to me. Conceptually brilliant, deliciously written, lots of good character meat to crunch on. A bit weird on the pacing, and too many plotlines that were left dangling at the end (maybe that's a genre hallmark? I don't know, I like plot tidiness, so all the avenues not contributing to anything but the horror were disappointing), but overall a thoroughly enjoyable read.
The Lost Diaries of Susanna Moodie - Cecily Ross
An honest and unflinching book that doesn't try to sermonise or to romanticise. An important reflection on the gendered history of Canadian colonialism, the ways in which men's and women's experiences were so different, with women's being immeasurably more difficult both to endure and to access. A clever, careful use of the diary format (which isn't usually my cup of tea), and a book that very carefully - and successfully - takes no stands but lays things out matter-of-factly. It is not a love letter to any of the things it could have been, and that is its most masterful aspect. I did not expect to be able to find it impossible to put down, but I did.
An honest and unflinching book that doesn't try to sermonise or to romanticise. An important reflection on the gendered history of Canadian colonialism, the ways in which men's and women's experiences were so different, with women's being immeasurably more difficult both to endure and to access. A clever, careful use of the diary format (which isn't usually my cup of tea), and a book that very carefully - and successfully - takes no stands but lays things out matter-of-factly. It is not a love letter to any of the things it could have been, and that is its most masterful aspect. I did not expect to be able to find it impossible to put down, but I did.
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
The pacing of this book was a bit…off, I think. I loved the worldbuilding, loved all the concepts (would have loved more religious exploration, but I always want that), loved the execution of a multiple-bodied consciousness in Justice of Toren, and 1Esk in Justice of Toren, and appreciated the overlapping relationality everywhere. But the plot was a bit thin, I think, and I never really felt convinced by the Anaander Mianaai problem? I think a single, solitary mission of revenge would have been a much better story, rather than this complex political problem that even though the protagonist wanted no part of, kept intruding on the narrative. The development of the characters was well-handled, despite that, but because I just wasn't on board with the plot, the whole thing feels disappointing to me. There was lots to love! But it won't be a re-read, I don't think.
The pacing of this book was a bit…off, I think. I loved the worldbuilding, loved all the concepts (would have loved more religious exploration, but I always want that), loved the execution of a multiple-bodied consciousness in Justice of Toren, and 1Esk in Justice of Toren, and appreciated the overlapping relationality everywhere. But the plot was a bit thin, I think, and I never really felt convinced by the Anaander Mianaai problem? I think a single, solitary mission of revenge would have been a much better story, rather than this complex political problem that even though the protagonist wanted no part of, kept intruding on the narrative. The development of the characters was well-handled, despite that, but because I just wasn't on board with the plot, the whole thing feels disappointing to me. There was lots to love! But it won't be a re-read, I don't think.
Foundation and Empire - Isaac Asimov
I liked this book more as it progressed, although classic SF is its own particular form of torture. The plot is undeniably good as an outline, but it is missing so much meat, so many intermediate steps and events, so much character development and worldbuilding and basic connective tissue that it just doesn't hang together at all as a narrative. Also, sorry Asimov purists, "psycho-history" is just a poorly-done ripoff of historical materialism (and calculus, I think?), and while determinism is certainly challenged here, it is ultimately reaffirmed, and without any kind of exploration of either the challenge or the reaffirmation - the kind of exploration for which the genre is uniquely equipped. C'mon, Isaac.
I liked this book more as it progressed, although classic SF is its own particular form of torture. The plot is undeniably good as an outline, but it is missing so much meat, so many intermediate steps and events, so much character development and worldbuilding and basic connective tissue that it just doesn't hang together at all as a narrative. Also, sorry Asimov purists, "psycho-history" is just a poorly-done ripoff of historical materialism (and calculus, I think?), and while determinism is certainly challenged here, it is ultimately reaffirmed, and without any kind of exploration of either the challenge or the reaffirmation - the kind of exploration for which the genre is uniquely equipped. C'mon, Isaac.
All the Missing Girls - Megan Miranda
My first BAnQ audiobook loan! And an excellent one to start off with. First-person narration works so much better when spoken, even though here the narrative definitely required unreliability so it probably would not have bothered me as much in print. The mystery unravelling, the relationships unravelling (and knitting themselves back together), and that glorious admission: "I survive." Pulpy goodness and the real drama of small communities, real families, messy and needy and careless. I think my one issue with telling the story in reverse (although it was brilliantly done) was that I kept spotting what I thought were continuity errors but were actually just things that occurred on, like, day 12 and day 8, so their being mentioned on day 10 didn't make sense for a while. Also, with audiobooks it's hard to flip back to confirm your memory of important details! But these technical issues aside, I could not put this book down. Well. Couldn't press pause.
My first BAnQ audiobook loan! And an excellent one to start off with. First-person narration works so much better when spoken, even though here the narrative definitely required unreliability so it probably would not have bothered me as much in print. The mystery unravelling, the relationships unravelling (and knitting themselves back together), and that glorious admission: "I survive." Pulpy goodness and the real drama of small communities, real families, messy and needy and careless. I think my one issue with telling the story in reverse (although it was brilliantly done) was that I kept spotting what I thought were continuity errors but were actually just things that occurred on, like, day 12 and day 8, so their being mentioned on day 10 didn't make sense for a while. Also, with audiobooks it's hard to flip back to confirm your memory of important details! But these technical issues aside, I could not put this book down. Well. Couldn't press pause.
The Sign and the Sacrifice - Rowan Williams
I like the digestible orality of Rowan Williams' prose here (sermons probably make the best theology books for that reason), and I absolutely love his use of the Christian literary and artistic tradition and history to supplement and embellish his reliance on scripture to address the cross and the resurrection. It's also so nice to read theology written by historians, not just "sola scriptura"-obsessed exegetes interpreting for an individual moment, because the uncovering of priorities and principles of the early church lends so much richness to Williams' interpretive stance. And an emphasis on sacramentality that isn't drowning in the jargon of mystery! (much as I love the mystery). Basically, even if the content were not challenging and crucially important, insightful and faith-provoking, I would have loved this slim volume for style alone.
I like the digestible orality of Rowan Williams' prose here (sermons probably make the best theology books for that reason), and I absolutely love his use of the Christian literary and artistic tradition and history to supplement and embellish his reliance on scripture to address the cross and the resurrection. It's also so nice to read theology written by historians, not just "sola scriptura"-obsessed exegetes interpreting for an individual moment, because the uncovering of priorities and principles of the early church lends so much richness to Williams' interpretive stance. And an emphasis on sacramentality that isn't drowning in the jargon of mystery! (much as I love the mystery). Basically, even if the content were not challenging and crucially important, insightful and faith-provoking, I would have loved this slim volume for style alone.
Separate and Dominate - Christine Delphy
A necessary read, I think, for Quebecoise feminists, as we struggle over headscarves (of all things!) just a few years later than in France, and as we enter the reality of a nationalistic government built on racism and neo-imperialism. A series of essays (so less cohesive and strong than a book proper) with brilliant insight, and the kind of argumentation I am excited to absorb into my own praxis. As a consequence of the decade and a half over which these essays are written, there are some unfortunate parts - the reliance in her early work on the odious good Muslim/bad Muslim dichotomy, for instance - and as a consequence of Delphy's own feminist priorities there is throughout an unnecessarily sharp gender binary drawn. Even with these not-insignificant flaws, though, there was so much good meat in here, so much relevant unpacking of intersecting oppression, so careful and accessible an explanation of how dominance works (and the dangers of universals!). A worthwhile, an absolutely necessary read.
A necessary read, I think, for Quebecoise feminists, as we struggle over headscarves (of all things!) just a few years later than in France, and as we enter the reality of a nationalistic government built on racism and neo-imperialism. A series of essays (so less cohesive and strong than a book proper) with brilliant insight, and the kind of argumentation I am excited to absorb into my own praxis. As a consequence of the decade and a half over which these essays are written, there are some unfortunate parts - the reliance in her early work on the odious good Muslim/bad Muslim dichotomy, for instance - and as a consequence of Delphy's own feminist priorities there is throughout an unnecessarily sharp gender binary drawn. Even with these not-insignificant flaws, though, there was so much good meat in here, so much relevant unpacking of intersecting oppression, so careful and accessible an explanation of how dominance works (and the dangers of universals!). A worthwhile, an absolutely necessary read.
Class, Race, and Marxism - David Roediger
Labour history! The argumentation in these essays is not super present; they're fairly descriptive, but what they describe! The presentation of so much data on the racism deep in the heart of capitalism's logic, the study of the origins of modern management theory and practice in slaveholding, the uncovering of an anti-racist strand of Marxism present from the beginning, and the matter-of-fact takedown of those (unfortunately vocal) elements of the left that accuse anti-racist struggles of impeding class struggle - all presented cogently, carefully, professionally. The use of primary sources! The accessibility of the prose! All of it came very close to making up for the disappointing lack of arguments that I could glean and practically make use of.
Labour history! The argumentation in these essays is not super present; they're fairly descriptive, but what they describe! The presentation of so much data on the racism deep in the heart of capitalism's logic, the study of the origins of modern management theory and practice in slaveholding, the uncovering of an anti-racist strand of Marxism present from the beginning, and the matter-of-fact takedown of those (unfortunately vocal) elements of the left that accuse anti-racist struggles of impeding class struggle - all presented cogently, carefully, professionally. The use of primary sources! The accessibility of the prose! All of it came very close to making up for the disappointing lack of arguments that I could glean and practically make use of.
The Ivory and the Horn - Charles DeLint
I used to LOVE DeLint, and in some respects I still do. He's got a way of working with folklore and religion and the travails of everyday life that is utterly unique. Fantasy of the everyday, of the margins, of the rough-and-tumble and down-and-out: no one does it with quite the same sensibility. But, I have to say, he is not as good a technical writer as he could be, has all these ideas for a world in which dialogue and descriptive both mostly fall flat. It's a little better in his novels, but in short story collections like this one, it really shows up.
I used to LOVE DeLint, and in some respects I still do. He's got a way of working with folklore and religion and the travails of everyday life that is utterly unique. Fantasy of the everyday, of the margins, of the rough-and-tumble and down-and-out: no one does it with quite the same sensibility. But, I have to say, he is not as good a technical writer as he could be, has all these ideas for a world in which dialogue and descriptive both mostly fall flat. It's a little better in his novels, but in short story collections like this one, it really shows up.
Grimm's Last Fairytale - Haydn Middleton
I love a good fairy tale, and I love resonances of folklore in real life (and vice versa), and I love linguists and lexicographers. I, unsurprisingly, rather enjoyed this book, in one glorious afternoon at the BAnQ. The subtle subplot about ever-present antisemitism; the mysteries of fatherhood and fatherland, and fatherland vs. motherland; the profound depths of sibling bonds - all of it so excellent, so well-paced! I wish the connective tissue between the three simultaneous narratives had been a little stronger, made me struggle less, and I do think the writing lacked something of the ethereal quality I so like in my folklore, but it otherwise was a real treat, a delightful bit of prose.
I love a good fairy tale, and I love resonances of folklore in real life (and vice versa), and I love linguists and lexicographers. I, unsurprisingly, rather enjoyed this book, in one glorious afternoon at the BAnQ. The subtle subplot about ever-present antisemitism; the mysteries of fatherhood and fatherland, and fatherland vs. motherland; the profound depths of sibling bonds - all of it so excellent, so well-paced! I wish the connective tissue between the three simultaneous narratives had been a little stronger, made me struggle less, and I do think the writing lacked something of the ethereal quality I so like in my folklore, but it otherwise was a real treat, a delightful bit of prose.
Brown Girl in the Ring - Nalo Hopkinson
I love being able to recognise story locations! I always forget that Hopkinson writes almost exclusively about Toronto, so it was a little unsettling to imagine the neighbourhood where I lived in this post-apocalyptic setting. But it made the whole thing so much more real, so much more terrifyingly intense. I loved the overlapping plots, the broader question of ethics in the apocalypse and the narrower question of family responsibility. There was a great balance there, between the things going on in Ti-Jean's personal world and the larger world of a corrupt political world. And Hopkinson's descriptive is just so evocative! This was another great audiobook choice - I loved being able to hear the accents, rather than having to imagine them while reading. It really coloured the whole narrative so beautifully!
I love being able to recognise story locations! I always forget that Hopkinson writes almost exclusively about Toronto, so it was a little unsettling to imagine the neighbourhood where I lived in this post-apocalyptic setting. But it made the whole thing so much more real, so much more terrifyingly intense. I loved the overlapping plots, the broader question of ethics in the apocalypse and the narrower question of family responsibility. There was a great balance there, between the things going on in Ti-Jean's personal world and the larger world of a corrupt political world. And Hopkinson's descriptive is just so evocative! This was another great audiobook choice - I loved being able to hear the accents, rather than having to imagine them while reading. It really coloured the whole narrative so beautifully!
The Last Empress - Anchee Min
I think Min's aim here was halfway between a chronicle and a diary? No real effort to craft a narrative, just embellishing the historical record with a first-person (the death knell!) narration of some assumed emotions - and how much less interesting is it to read "I was sad" than to have narrative and narratological justifications for that feeling? Because of the first-person, too, Min was unable to do what a historian does and speculate about import and legacy, make causal connections, or suggest possible alternatives and reasons why they had not occurred. Because of wanting to be a little of both, this work failed to be as captivating as either a novel or a history of Ci Xi has a right to be (perhaps I feel this way because I was reading it while editing dissertation chapters on the empress, so I saw what Could Have Been). Also the writing was just not great on a technical level.
I think Min's aim here was halfway between a chronicle and a diary? No real effort to craft a narrative, just embellishing the historical record with a first-person (the death knell!) narration of some assumed emotions - and how much less interesting is it to read "I was sad" than to have narrative and narratological justifications for that feeling? Because of the first-person, too, Min was unable to do what a historian does and speculate about import and legacy, make causal connections, or suggest possible alternatives and reasons why they had not occurred. Because of wanting to be a little of both, this work failed to be as captivating as either a novel or a history of Ci Xi has a right to be (perhaps I feel this way because I was reading it while editing dissertation chapters on the empress, so I saw what Could Have Been). Also the writing was just not great on a technical level.
The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle
THIS is what I like in my folklore! A dreamy prose quality full of impossibilities that may or may not be metaphor, sprinkled liberally with sharper, clearer, more lucid moments. A plot that is not quite a plot with not quite a moral. Characters both unique and archetypal, and aware of themselves and the logic of the world they inhabit. Grand and granular at once; grim and gay and full of the sadness of the eternal round that folklore makes. Utterly perfect.
THIS is what I like in my folklore! A dreamy prose quality full of impossibilities that may or may not be metaphor, sprinkled liberally with sharper, clearer, more lucid moments. A plot that is not quite a plot with not quite a moral. Characters both unique and archetypal, and aware of themselves and the logic of the world they inhabit. Grand and granular at once; grim and gay and full of the sadness of the eternal round that folklore makes. Utterly perfect.
The Keys of Egypt - Lesley and Roy Adkins
I once remarked to a colleague that I had probably started my love affair with my academic discipline by discovering Egyptology in early elementary school, to which he responded, "didn't we all?" Egyptology feels like coming home - both to my nine-year-old self reading about Tutankhamun and my nineteen-year-old-self reading Edward Said. This book was difficult to read because it is so uncritical about its own Orientalism, its racism, its biases of all kinds. It isn't even aware of them. But it was a joy to read because of that nostalgia it provoked, because of how approachable it makes Champollion and his life - a life not limited to deciphering hieroglyphs. It is a joy to read about academics being joyful, brilliant, and scandalous. I wish less attention had been paid to showing off the authors' knowledge of hieroglyphs and more to explaining how, precisely, Champollion's system worked (I still don't understand it), but I delighted in the balanced view of this brilliant, abrasive, generous boy's life.
I once remarked to a colleague that I had probably started my love affair with my academic discipline by discovering Egyptology in early elementary school, to which he responded, "didn't we all?" Egyptology feels like coming home - both to my nine-year-old self reading about Tutankhamun and my nineteen-year-old-self reading Edward Said. This book was difficult to read because it is so uncritical about its own Orientalism, its racism, its biases of all kinds. It isn't even aware of them. But it was a joy to read because of that nostalgia it provoked, because of how approachable it makes Champollion and his life - a life not limited to deciphering hieroglyphs. It is a joy to read about academics being joyful, brilliant, and scandalous. I wish less attention had been paid to showing off the authors' knowledge of hieroglyphs and more to explaining how, precisely, Champollion's system worked (I still don't understand it), but I delighted in the balanced view of this brilliant, abrasive, generous boy's life.
Cinder - Marissa Meyer
I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did (or to be so let down by the ending!). I knew going in that the worldbuilding would be a little sloppy (it was), the villain concept rather obvious (also yes), and the prose nothing to write home about. What I hadn't counted on was how the multiple levels of the fairytale adaptation would grip me, the interpretation honouring the ultimate truths hidden in the classic tale while simultaneously exploding new valences of the genre's power to reveal the world. The relationships were well-formed, the characters easy, and the limited omniscient narrator was a smart technical choice. But, at the same time, when silkpunk exists as a genre (J.Y. Yang's Tensorate novellas and Ken Liu's Dandelion Dynasty trilogy are good examples), there's no excuse for being this sloppy with your worldbuilding.
I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did (or to be so let down by the ending!). I knew going in that the worldbuilding would be a little sloppy (it was), the villain concept rather obvious (also yes), and the prose nothing to write home about. What I hadn't counted on was how the multiple levels of the fairytale adaptation would grip me, the interpretation honouring the ultimate truths hidden in the classic tale while simultaneously exploding new valences of the genre's power to reveal the world. The relationships were well-formed, the characters easy, and the limited omniscient narrator was a smart technical choice. But, at the same time, when silkpunk exists as a genre (J.Y. Yang's Tensorate novellas and Ken Liu's Dandelion Dynasty trilogy are good examples), there's no excuse for being this sloppy with your worldbuilding.
House of Dreams - Pauline Gedge
Oh man, I remember loving Pauline Gedge as a teenager, and rereading this book had me patting Past Jessica on the back for her excellent taste. Gedge has evocative writing (although not terribly beautiful and sometimes overly wordy), immediately approachable characters, a real gift for the registers of dialogue, and is one of the few authors who can get me enjoying a bildungsroman. And I feel like, as a younger reader, I didn't fully appreciate her plotting skill - on full display here. Her research was also so up to date at the time (although it didn't have quite the longevity one might have hoped), and reading this book brought me all the thrills of unpacking ancient civilisations and the very real people who made them what they were. And, who am I kidding. Ancient Egypt is always a setting I want to go back to.
Oh man, I remember loving Pauline Gedge as a teenager, and rereading this book had me patting Past Jessica on the back for her excellent taste. Gedge has evocative writing (although not terribly beautiful and sometimes overly wordy), immediately approachable characters, a real gift for the registers of dialogue, and is one of the few authors who can get me enjoying a bildungsroman. And I feel like, as a younger reader, I didn't fully appreciate her plotting skill - on full display here. Her research was also so up to date at the time (although it didn't have quite the longevity one might have hoped), and reading this book brought me all the thrills of unpacking ancient civilisations and the very real people who made them what they were. And, who am I kidding. Ancient Egypt is always a setting I want to go back to.
The Childfinder - Rene Denfeld
I was talking to a friend recently about how I listen to the kind of audiobooks I wouldn't necessarily read as physical books. This one might have broken me of that habit. At first, it fit that category: kind of sensationalist, a modern story of the American Northwest (heaven preserve us from The Great American Novel!). But! Denfield's writing is beautiful (and the orality of the language absolutely suited for audio form), the switches in perspective so lovely in their execution, and the hope radiating from every line a worthwhile, essential change from the despair that colours a lot of contemporary literature, and the world in which contemporary authors and readers live. I enjoyed the bittersweetness, the simultaneous moral clarity and ambiguity, the relationships of care between the characters. What a good book!
I was talking to a friend recently about how I listen to the kind of audiobooks I wouldn't necessarily read as physical books. This one might have broken me of that habit. At first, it fit that category: kind of sensationalist, a modern story of the American Northwest (heaven preserve us from The Great American Novel!). But! Denfield's writing is beautiful (and the orality of the language absolutely suited for audio form), the switches in perspective so lovely in their execution, and the hope radiating from every line a worthwhile, essential change from the despair that colours a lot of contemporary literature, and the world in which contemporary authors and readers live. I enjoyed the bittersweetness, the simultaneous moral clarity and ambiguity, the relationships of care between the characters. What a good book!
The Twelfth Transforming - Pauline Gedge
Gedge's writing has an all-encompassing quality; it draws you in to this world of her imagining and leaves you wanting more. Evocative descriptions, dialect choices at once foreignising and familiar (maybe the latter from all of my rereads but maybe just her deftness), inevitable plots that still manage to breathe with human life, human desire, human frustration. I am so glad to have jumped back into her work, although I have to constrain myself to keep from reading only them for the rest of the year!
Gedge's writing has an all-encompassing quality; it draws you in to this world of her imagining and leaves you wanting more. Evocative descriptions, dialect choices at once foreignising and familiar (maybe the latter from all of my rereads but maybe just her deftness), inevitable plots that still manage to breathe with human life, human desire, human frustration. I am so glad to have jumped back into her work, although I have to constrain myself to keep from reading only them for the rest of the year!
Circe - Madeline Miller
WOW I am usually not a fan of the bildungsroman genre, but oh my GOODNESS. I loved every moment of this dreamy book whose narrative lingers below the surface and only becomes evident at the last. Mythohistory is one of my first loves, and I would have adored this work only for its deft weaving of all the stories into such a seamless whole - but Miller's prose is liquid gold, her characterisations dynamic and alive and breathing, bleeding off the page. I think Circe might be one of the best books I have ever read on a technical level. It is certainly one of the most beautiful.
WOW I am usually not a fan of the bildungsroman genre, but oh my GOODNESS. I loved every moment of this dreamy book whose narrative lingers below the surface and only becomes evident at the last. Mythohistory is one of my first loves, and I would have adored this work only for its deft weaving of all the stories into such a seamless whole - but Miller's prose is liquid gold, her characterisations dynamic and alive and breathing, bleeding off the page. I think Circe might be one of the best books I have ever read on a technical level. It is certainly one of the most beautiful.
The Blue Manuscript - Sabiha Al Khemir
The short, curt sentences that Hemingway pioneered are not my favourite, so it was a struggle to get into this book. As is probably obvious, I have distinct stylistic preferences, and this kind of abrupt, obvious storytelling doesn't really fit with them. I wanted to badly to love this story - ostensibly about language, and belonging, and the trap of desire - because I love all the things it purported to be about. But none of the characters were real, just empty caricatures. And language was there, and belonging, and desire, but in a way that I felt hit over the head with meaning, told what to feel and think without being made to feel or think it by the story itself. I suppose it was realist? But not terribly realistic. And not really penetrable.
The short, curt sentences that Hemingway pioneered are not my favourite, so it was a struggle to get into this book. As is probably obvious, I have distinct stylistic preferences, and this kind of abrupt, obvious storytelling doesn't really fit with them. I wanted to badly to love this story - ostensibly about language, and belonging, and the trap of desire - because I love all the things it purported to be about. But none of the characters were real, just empty caricatures. And language was there, and belonging, and desire, but in a way that I felt hit over the head with meaning, told what to feel and think without being made to feel or think it by the story itself. I suppose it was realist? But not terribly realistic. And not really penetrable.
Cue for Treason - Geoffery Trease
I want to say this book is a YA forerunner, because it's a book written for secondary school aged people, not for children, and not for adults. Like most of the genre that it prefigures, it is obvious and safe, dangerous only in judicious amounts and at precise times. It is believable and also disbelievable, and can't help but moralise. After reading so many heavy books recently, it was a nice break, to read something with low stakes, low investment, and the high return of a girl disguised as a boy (one of my favourite tropes) who is taken seriously as both, and a Shakespeare who actually came from Stratford (fight me, Baconites et al).
I want to say this book is a YA forerunner, because it's a book written for secondary school aged people, not for children, and not for adults. Like most of the genre that it prefigures, it is obvious and safe, dangerous only in judicious amounts and at precise times. It is believable and also disbelievable, and can't help but moralise. After reading so many heavy books recently, it was a nice break, to read something with low stakes, low investment, and the high return of a girl disguised as a boy (one of my favourite tropes) who is taken seriously as both, and a Shakespeare who actually came from Stratford (fight me, Baconites et al).
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
Well, this book was Hella Depressing the first time I read it, and is still that way. What I remarked to my erstwhile co-reader, though, is that, this time around, I was better able to appreciate the artistry of Roy's prose, the careful way she uses repetition, her vignette-style organisation, the deft shading of dialogue. For a book all about violence, it manages to be utterly lovely. For a book ostensibly about love (although I don't know that I can accept that any of the characters loves anyone, including themselves), it is rather full of violence. I don't think it tries to equate the two, but perhaps suggests that there is something in human nature that makes us violent when we most want to love (or support), that doesn't know how to approach another person without teeth and claws and knives. I don't know that I like books that have such an absolutely bleak view of the world? No matter how beautifully they're written.
Well, this book was Hella Depressing the first time I read it, and is still that way. What I remarked to my erstwhile co-reader, though, is that, this time around, I was better able to appreciate the artistry of Roy's prose, the careful way she uses repetition, her vignette-style organisation, the deft shading of dialogue. For a book all about violence, it manages to be utterly lovely. For a book ostensibly about love (although I don't know that I can accept that any of the characters loves anyone, including themselves), it is rather full of violence. I don't think it tries to equate the two, but perhaps suggests that there is something in human nature that makes us violent when we most want to love (or support), that doesn't know how to approach another person without teeth and claws and knives. I don't know that I like books that have such an absolutely bleak view of the world? No matter how beautifully they're written.
A Confusion of Princes - Garth Nix
Garth Nix is, like, the king of worldbuilding. N.K. Jemisin is the undisputed empress, but Nix…every world he builds is vibrant and bizarre and believable and thorough, and this world is no exception. I love the blend of hard-ish and military SF into something that transgresses the typical thrust of both subgenres. I love how everything, for Nix, comes down to defying the way the world works and remaking it, or some small part of it, in a way that is more fertile, more loving, more whole. I loved all the little elements here, and the big arc of the story, and the characters, although I do wish we had been able to get a little more emotional proximity to all or even any of them - the book wanted to have heart, but kind of fell short a bit. I also appreciate Nix's flair for dialogue, the different registers of speech he plays with, the way he manages to have the people in his stories tell them. A Good Book!
Garth Nix is, like, the king of worldbuilding. N.K. Jemisin is the undisputed empress, but Nix…every world he builds is vibrant and bizarre and believable and thorough, and this world is no exception. I love the blend of hard-ish and military SF into something that transgresses the typical thrust of both subgenres. I love how everything, for Nix, comes down to defying the way the world works and remaking it, or some small part of it, in a way that is more fertile, more loving, more whole. I loved all the little elements here, and the big arc of the story, and the characters, although I do wish we had been able to get a little more emotional proximity to all or even any of them - the book wanted to have heart, but kind of fell short a bit. I also appreciate Nix's flair for dialogue, the different registers of speech he plays with, the way he manages to have the people in his stories tell them. A Good Book!
Three Days Missing - Kimberly Belle
I feel like I've read more pulp-y mystery-y novels this year than I ever have (possibly because, as the length of this list demonstrates, I've had way more time to read than at any point since I started publishing reading accounts). I can't say that I regret the decision! All the lit bros I know may be cringeing, but there's something so delightful about pulp-y novels, about scandal and suspense and nothing even remotely like commentary on the real world/the Art of Fiction/etc. I enjoy the kind of brainlessness of them, and the desire to race through them quickly to figure out the ending is something I only remember experiencing as a child; now, I tend to read more slowly, savouring the craft. Three Days Missing is not a crafted novel. It's probably not even very good. But I stayed up until midnight to finish it, and while the ending kind of let me down and I feel like there were not enough red herrings, I enjoyed like 90% of the ride, and thoroughly.
I feel like I've read more pulp-y mystery-y novels this year than I ever have (possibly because, as the length of this list demonstrates, I've had way more time to read than at any point since I started publishing reading accounts). I can't say that I regret the decision! All the lit bros I know may be cringeing, but there's something so delightful about pulp-y novels, about scandal and suspense and nothing even remotely like commentary on the real world/the Art of Fiction/etc. I enjoy the kind of brainlessness of them, and the desire to race through them quickly to figure out the ending is something I only remember experiencing as a child; now, I tend to read more slowly, savouring the craft. Three Days Missing is not a crafted novel. It's probably not even very good. But I stayed up until midnight to finish it, and while the ending kind of let me down and I feel like there were not enough red herrings, I enjoyed like 90% of the ride, and thoroughly.
Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi
I very rarely say this kind of thing, but: this book was just too long. And then that's it, that's my big critique. Meaty, difficult characters; beautifully crafted dialogue; an absolutely phenomenal way of describing action; morally complex villains whose moral complexity isn't just kind of shoehorned in at the end AND whose complexity is not used as a reason to let them off the hook; a shocking (but retrospectively, not really - which is the best way of doing it) resolution. Could the world have been a built a little more strongly? Sure. Could the pacing have been better? Absolutely. But otherwise, it was a book to worm your way into, to stew in, to let grow around you, and I loved that. I suppose I could have also done without basically all the romantic agency being possessed by male characters? But I feel like that's mostly a genre trope (for both fantasy and YA, the latter of which is definitely present in this book even if the body count is probably too high for it to REALLY be YA), and in a book that shatters so many others, it's a minor quibble.
I very rarely say this kind of thing, but: this book was just too long. And then that's it, that's my big critique. Meaty, difficult characters; beautifully crafted dialogue; an absolutely phenomenal way of describing action; morally complex villains whose moral complexity isn't just kind of shoehorned in at the end AND whose complexity is not used as a reason to let them off the hook; a shocking (but retrospectively, not really - which is the best way of doing it) resolution. Could the world have been a built a little more strongly? Sure. Could the pacing have been better? Absolutely. But otherwise, it was a book to worm your way into, to stew in, to let grow around you, and I loved that. I suppose I could have also done without basically all the romantic agency being possessed by male characters? But I feel like that's mostly a genre trope (for both fantasy and YA, the latter of which is definitely present in this book even if the body count is probably too high for it to REALLY be YA), and in a book that shatters so many others, it's a minor quibble.
The Coffee Trader - David Liss
I really wanted to like this book. Overlapping schemes! Critiques of the so-called "free" market! History! Religion! Social commentary paired with witty banter! Innovative narrative techniques! All of these things are things I like, but I did not really like this book. Maybe it was the characters? None of them were particularly inspiring (or likeable), and none of them really grew or changed. Maybe it was the plot? Maybe it was the overwhelming sense of gloom in the whole thing? I wanted to like this book, though, and it irritates me that I didn’t.
I really wanted to like this book. Overlapping schemes! Critiques of the so-called "free" market! History! Religion! Social commentary paired with witty banter! Innovative narrative techniques! All of these things are things I like, but I did not really like this book. Maybe it was the characters? None of them were particularly inspiring (or likeable), and none of them really grew or changed. Maybe it was the plot? Maybe it was the overwhelming sense of gloom in the whole thing? I wanted to like this book, though, and it irritates me that I didn’t.
Opening the Prayerbook - Jeffery Lee
Church history is definitely one of my favourite things to read about, and this history of my one true liturgical love, the Book of Common Prayer (albeit the 1979 American Episcopal edition), was no exception. I love the assertion that what makes us Anglican is the act of common prayer, the participatory and communal nature of our liturgy. I love the exploration of what liturgy has been, is, and can be. Lee writes clearly and accessibly, with personality and emotion, making this a great introduction even for the uninitiated. I don't necessarily agree with all of his positions, but, of course, that's another thing that makes us Anglican: disagreements over liturgical and theological details!
Church history is definitely one of my favourite things to read about, and this history of my one true liturgical love, the Book of Common Prayer (albeit the 1979 American Episcopal edition), was no exception. I love the assertion that what makes us Anglican is the act of common prayer, the participatory and communal nature of our liturgy. I love the exploration of what liturgy has been, is, and can be. Lee writes clearly and accessibly, with personality and emotion, making this a great introduction even for the uninitiated. I don't necessarily agree with all of his positions, but, of course, that's another thing that makes us Anglican: disagreements over liturgical and theological details!
The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden
I initially decided to listen to this book kind of on a whim, and, oh boy, am I glad I did - and not just because the narrator's accent work was completely magical. I finished it over a day before writing this review, because I couldn't stop thinking about it, but none of those thoughts were sufficiently coherent. I bought a print copy. I wrote fanfiction, for the first time in over a decade. It may be the best book I've read this year. It may be one of the best books I've read, ever. I don't know if I want to read the rest of the trilogy, because I don't know if I want to spoil this perfect, perfect book. Arden has the soul of a folklorist, and the pen of some kind of poet-saint. Her characters leap from the page. Even the secondary ones. Even the tertiary ones. Her plot is slow to unfold, but present from the beginning, so that while most of the action occurs in the last third of the book , it feels beautifully paced. Her writing, I could eat it. There are very, very few books that have struck me in this way - this is only the third - and though I don't seek it out, this feeling of awe and love and delight and [indescribable]? This is why I read. This is what I love in books. How dare you, Katherine Arden. How dare you.
I read this book a second time (albeit now in print) less than three weeks after listening to it, punctuated by a week where I could read nothing at all because I could not stop thinking about this book, a week where I unsuccessfully tried to read other things, and the hectic week of Christmas. I am still astounded, but, more than anything, rabidly curious. This time through, I saw more of the crumbs Arden left for me (perhaps the benefit of a second reading; perhaps the impact of being a visual learner), and I am in awe of the careful planning, the brilliant pacing, and, once again, everything else. How absolutely criminal, for a book to be this way.
I initially decided to listen to this book kind of on a whim, and, oh boy, am I glad I did - and not just because the narrator's accent work was completely magical. I finished it over a day before writing this review, because I couldn't stop thinking about it, but none of those thoughts were sufficiently coherent. I bought a print copy. I wrote fanfiction, for the first time in over a decade. It may be the best book I've read this year. It may be one of the best books I've read, ever. I don't know if I want to read the rest of the trilogy, because I don't know if I want to spoil this perfect, perfect book. Arden has the soul of a folklorist, and the pen of some kind of poet-saint. Her characters leap from the page. Even the secondary ones. Even the tertiary ones. Her plot is slow to unfold, but present from the beginning, so that while most of the action occurs in the last third of the book , it feels beautifully paced. Her writing, I could eat it. There are very, very few books that have struck me in this way - this is only the third - and though I don't seek it out, this feeling of awe and love and delight and [indescribable]? This is why I read. This is what I love in books. How dare you, Katherine Arden. How dare you.
I read this book a second time (albeit now in print) less than three weeks after listening to it, punctuated by a week where I could read nothing at all because I could not stop thinking about this book, a week where I unsuccessfully tried to read other things, and the hectic week of Christmas. I am still astounded, but, more than anything, rabidly curious. This time through, I saw more of the crumbs Arden left for me (perhaps the benefit of a second reading; perhaps the impact of being a visual learner), and I am in awe of the careful planning, the brilliant pacing, and, once again, everything else. How absolutely criminal, for a book to be this way.
The Girl in the Tower - Katherine Arden
Not quite as emotionally demanding or as lyrical as the first book, but still a wonder. Arden is a great builder, expanding on and nuancing things she presented in the first book, widening the world in a way that feels natural. The middle book of a trilogy is difficult, but this one manages to have a self-contained, cohesive plot with a satisfying ending that also feels like a natural continuation of Bear and like it's holding its breath for the next book. The plot threads here were a little sloppy; I think there were just slightly too many and Arden did not have perfect hold of them all the time, but that's retrospective - I finished the book in a single sitting and did not feel anything but anticipation and wonder as I read. I can't decide if I love Arden's character work or her pacing the most - so much happens in this book and yet all of it feels like it happens at the right time, no rush, no delay. And, of course, for me the most important part of any book: real, bleeding characters. The shift in tone from straight folklore to, like, 14th-century urban fantasy was well-managed, I think, but I want to reserve judgement on that until I read the third book and get a real sense for the overall tone of the series.
Not quite as emotionally demanding or as lyrical as the first book, but still a wonder. Arden is a great builder, expanding on and nuancing things she presented in the first book, widening the world in a way that feels natural. The middle book of a trilogy is difficult, but this one manages to have a self-contained, cohesive plot with a satisfying ending that also feels like a natural continuation of Bear and like it's holding its breath for the next book. The plot threads here were a little sloppy; I think there were just slightly too many and Arden did not have perfect hold of them all the time, but that's retrospective - I finished the book in a single sitting and did not feel anything but anticipation and wonder as I read. I can't decide if I love Arden's character work or her pacing the most - so much happens in this book and yet all of it feels like it happens at the right time, no rush, no delay. And, of course, for me the most important part of any book: real, bleeding characters. The shift in tone from straight folklore to, like, 14th-century urban fantasy was well-managed, I think, but I want to reserve judgement on that until I read the third book and get a real sense for the overall tone of the series.