Wednesday Reading Meme
Sep. 4th, 2024 08:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
At some point in the drafting process of Elizabeth Wein’s Cobalt Squadron, I believe some publishing exec sat Wein down and told her, “Remember, you are writing this Star Wars tie-in for eight-year-olds with the attention span of guppies. Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em, tell ’em, tell ’em what you’ve told ’em, and then tell ’em a couple more times for good measure. If it isn’t repeated every couple of chapters that Rose and Paige Tico are SISTERS who come from SISTER PLANETS destroyed by the First Order, and that is why they care about the fate of this OTHER system of sister planets, your readers will forget.”
Not recommended unless you are an Elizabeth Wein or Rose Tico completist.
I also finished Anita Loos’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Intimate Diary of a Professional Lady, which is a hoot. It’s different from the Marilyn Monroe movie in a lot of details, and yet I think that anyone who enjoys the movie would also enjoy the book, because in spirit the movie really captured it.
What I’m Reading Now
A long drought in magical allusions in Jane Eyre. After chapter upon chapter, there is one lonely outcropping when Jane dashes water over Rochester to rescue him from being burned in his bed. The deluge awakens him, and he demands, “In the name of all the elves in Christendom, is that Jane Eyre?… What have you done with me, witch, sorceress?”
However, after Jane returns from visiting her dying aunt, we have a bonanza! Again there is a hint that there is something uncanny about Mr. Rochester, too: when Jane first sees him, she has to remind herself that he’s not a ghost. As usual, however, it’s Rochester who scatters the magical allusions over Jane: she is like “a dream or a shade”; “She comes from the other world—from the abode of people who are dead; and tells me so when she meets me alone here in the gloaming! If I dared, I’d touch you, to see if you are substance or shadow, you elf!” (And, of course, in some traditions fairyland is allied with the land of the dead.)
Then he teases her: “Tell me now, fairy as you are—can’t you give me a charm, or a philter, or something of that sort, to make me a handsome man?” To which Jane replies gravely, “It would be past the power of magic, sir,” but thinks to herself: “A loving eye is all the charm needed: to such you are handsome enough; or rather your sternness has a power beyond beauty.”
And Rochester calls her “Janet” for the first time here. Tam Lin reference? Jane Eyre as Tam Lin retelling? Jane is Janet, Rochester Tam Lin, and Bertha… the fairy queen who keeps him in thrall…? Okay this is reaching.
What I Plan to Read Next
Is it too early to begin my Halloween reading?
At some point in the drafting process of Elizabeth Wein’s Cobalt Squadron, I believe some publishing exec sat Wein down and told her, “Remember, you are writing this Star Wars tie-in for eight-year-olds with the attention span of guppies. Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em, tell ’em, tell ’em what you’ve told ’em, and then tell ’em a couple more times for good measure. If it isn’t repeated every couple of chapters that Rose and Paige Tico are SISTERS who come from SISTER PLANETS destroyed by the First Order, and that is why they care about the fate of this OTHER system of sister planets, your readers will forget.”
Not recommended unless you are an Elizabeth Wein or Rose Tico completist.
I also finished Anita Loos’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Intimate Diary of a Professional Lady, which is a hoot. It’s different from the Marilyn Monroe movie in a lot of details, and yet I think that anyone who enjoys the movie would also enjoy the book, because in spirit the movie really captured it.
What I’m Reading Now
A long drought in magical allusions in Jane Eyre. After chapter upon chapter, there is one lonely outcropping when Jane dashes water over Rochester to rescue him from being burned in his bed. The deluge awakens him, and he demands, “In the name of all the elves in Christendom, is that Jane Eyre?… What have you done with me, witch, sorceress?”
However, after Jane returns from visiting her dying aunt, we have a bonanza! Again there is a hint that there is something uncanny about Mr. Rochester, too: when Jane first sees him, she has to remind herself that he’s not a ghost. As usual, however, it’s Rochester who scatters the magical allusions over Jane: she is like “a dream or a shade”; “She comes from the other world—from the abode of people who are dead; and tells me so when she meets me alone here in the gloaming! If I dared, I’d touch you, to see if you are substance or shadow, you elf!” (And, of course, in some traditions fairyland is allied with the land of the dead.)
Then he teases her: “Tell me now, fairy as you are—can’t you give me a charm, or a philter, or something of that sort, to make me a handsome man?” To which Jane replies gravely, “It would be past the power of magic, sir,” but thinks to herself: “A loving eye is all the charm needed: to such you are handsome enough; or rather your sternness has a power beyond beauty.”
And Rochester calls her “Janet” for the first time here. Tam Lin reference? Jane Eyre as Tam Lin retelling? Jane is Janet, Rochester Tam Lin, and Bertha… the fairy queen who keeps him in thrall…? Okay this is reaching.
What I Plan to Read Next
Is it too early to begin my Halloween reading?
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 01:00 pm (UTC)I've been thinking about the Literally A Changeling!Jane AU; I had assumed that in a fantasy AU, Rochester would have to be at least fey-adjacent, but it occurs to me— it has admittedly been a minute since I read Jane Eyre, but isn't there something changeling-coded about Bertha, in a "I was promised this perfect wife but then her ~true nature~ was ~revealed~" way...? Unclear how this fits into anything except maybe the fantasy AU is that Rochester is out there collecting fairy-wives??
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Date: 2024-09-04 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 01:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 11:31 pm (UTC)You are making me want to reread Jane Eyre, though.
(It is never too early for Halloween reading!)
no subject
Date: 2024-09-05 12:01 pm (UTC)Never a bad time to reread Jane Eyre!
I have to wrap up the book of Daphne Du Maurier short stories I'm reading (although isn't Daphne Du Maurier Halloween-adjacent, really?), and then I've got a couple of books of Sorche Nic Leodhas's ghostly folk tales ready to go.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-05 04:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-05 11:59 am (UTC)But yes, Rochester does partially recover from his blindness after Jane returns to him.
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Date: 2024-09-05 06:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-05 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-07 06:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-07 04:49 pm (UTC)