Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Sachiko Kashiwaba’s The Village Beyond the Mist, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa. A delight! The book inspired Spirited Away, and it very loosely shares the same premise: ordinary girl visits magical town where she has to find work. However, The Village Beyond the Mist is a much lighter take. Our heroine Lina is never in danger of being trapped in the spirit world, and her work is much lighter than Chihiro’s, consisting largely of helping the quirky townsfolk organize their shops: a bookstore, a maritime store, a toy store. (A bit disappointed Lina didn’t get to help out in the sweet shop. I would have loved more descriptions of the treats!)

A lovely bit of light magical fun. Just don’t go into it expecting Haku or yokai, and enjoy it for what it is.

What I’m Reading Now

Sarah Rees Brennan’s Long Live Evil, which I’m enjoying so far, although given the amount of time that our heroine Rae (isekaid into the body of the villainess Lady Rahela) spends musing about the double standard, I want her to go ahead and bang some of the hot bad boys already. Behave in a way unbefitting of a pure heroine! Get down and dirty with someone who is not your one true love!

What I Plan to Read Next

I’ve decided to go FULL CHRISTMAS this December: all Christmas books and nothing but Christmas books until December 25. I’ve often thought this would be an interesting thing to try, and this year I’m going in!

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

Sachiko Kashiwaba’s The Village Beyond the Mist

I just saw this— there are unlimited copies available on Libby for a sort of mass public re-along at the moment! I've actually never seen Spirited Away, but this does look like a much different story.

[osprey_archer]

How can you resist a mass public readalong? Dive in!

[thisbluespirit]

I’ve decided to go FULL CHRISTMAS this December: all Christmas books and nothing but Christmas books until December 25.

Heh, good luck!

[osprey_archer]

I've got a good supply of picture books for the Advent calendar, but maybe not quite enough chapter books to keep me going. We'll see how I do!

[philomytha]

I love the idea of a FULL CHRISTMAS reading list! I look forward to seeing what's on the list - I don't have much in the way of adult Christmas reading but I do have a bunch of Christmas-themed picture books, and if you haven't already got this one, The Wild Christmas Reindeer has far and away the most luscious Christmassy illustrations I have ever seen.

[osprey_archer]

I LOVE The Wild Christmas Reindeer! As a child I would look at the pictures for hours. I actually rarely bothered to read the story, just looked at all the wonderful elf workshops in the borders. There was one where they were making rocking horses, one where they sorted oranges, one where they were making dolls... I loved imagining the Christmas elves' lives.

Jan Brett has a new book out this year and I'm going to buy a copy for the Advent calendar for my niece - well, really for both, I'll read it as part of my Advent calendar then pass it on, haha.

So far, the full-length books I've lined up for the month are:

Forever Christmas, by Tasha Tudor - a photo book about Christmas at Corgiville Cottage, Tudor's Vermont farm, so probably not super long

Take Joy! A Tasha Tudor Christmas Book - a compilation of Christmas songs, stories etc.

The Trees Kneel at Christmas, Maud Hart Lovelace - a short children's chapter book

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year, Ally Carter - an adult novel

Tied up in Tinsel, Ngaio Marsh - a mystery novel

The Christmas Appeal, Janice Hallett - a novella

I'm worried it won't be enough, since three of the six are definitely short, and although Take Joy! looks thicker, I'm not sure how much of that is actually reading material and how much is, like, illustrations and sheet music and recipes. So I'm on the lookout for other books to add.

[lokifan]

Possibly The Miraculous Sweet-Makers by Natasha Hastings? It's a children's boom set during one of the historic Frost Fairs, and the protagonist makes a deal with fairies to bring her brother back to life. It's not necessarily a Christmas book I suppose but y'know, frost fairs, family love, etc.

I love this idea :DD

[osprey_archer]

Oh, it's the first of a trilogy! Well, I will just give it a try... If it arrives and I decide it's not quite Christmassy enough, I'll just save it till December 26.

[genarti]

Oooh, The Village Beyond the Mist sounds delightful! I've just put in a hold on it.

[osprey_archer]

I hope you enjoy it! It's such fun.

[asakiyume]

Sachiko Kashiwaba’s The Village Beyond the Mist, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa. A delight! --So glad to hear it!

[osprey_archer]

The library system has two of her other books and I plan to read them, too.