Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I Just Finished Reading

Hilary McKay’s Rosa by Starlight, an enchanting short children’s fantasy featuring cats, Venice, a deliciously wicked aunt and uncle (but ARE they really Rosa’s aunt and uncle?), and an intrepid orphan facing down her problems as best she can. Perfect if you like classic children’s fantasy that swirls a soupcon of magic into the real world.

Damon Runyon’s Guys and Dolls. Although the musical isn’t based directly on any one of these stories (in fact, I think the only direct reference might be Nathan Detroit’s craps game), it is at the same time exactly like Damon Runyon’s short stories. troisoiseaux suggested a similarity to the work of P. G. Wodehouse, which I definitely also see: it’s easy to imagine a crossover where Wodehouse’s upper class doofuses get into a caper with Runyon’s Broadway gangster idiots, probably ending in a double wedding where an upper class doofus marries a Broadway doll, and a Broadway guy marries Muriel Broadbent.

What I’m Reading Now

I’ve started my St. Patrick’s Day Maeve Binchy early this year, because I’ve picked her short story collection A Few of the Girls, and even starting now I probably won’t finish it by St. Patrick’s Day. (I usually read story collections one story a day.)

What I Plan to Read Next

You will be shocked to hear that a steady diet of Horatio Hornblower and Aubrey-Maturin have made me want to read a book about the history of the Napoleonic Wars, preferably an overview so I can get a general idea of the most important dates so I can orient myself as we go along. Any recommendations?

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

Although the musical isn’t based directly on any one of these stories (in fact, I think the only direct reference might be Nathan Detroit’s craps game)

Does this collection have "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown"? My understanding is that it's the main basis for the musical, although I haven't actually gotten to it yet in my collection of Runyon's short stories.

[osprey_archer]

I don't think it does! My collection was the only one the library had, but it's clearly not a complete selection of Runyon's stories.

[troisoiseaux]

Voila!

[osprey_archer]

Can't believe the musical cheated us of Miss Sarah Brown betting Sky Masterson for his soul!

[sanguinity]

I haven't read it, so I can't rec it, but if *I* were looking for an overview of the Napoleonic Wars, I'd consider Oxford Press's Napoleonic Wars: A Very Short Introduction.

I read their World War I: A Very Short Introduction, and it was everything I hoped for: a no-nonsense high-level "these are the major thrusts/events/turning-points of the war and what the hell the higher-ups thought they were doing when they authorized them." All in a pocket-sized hundred pages or so.

[osprey_archer]

I'll give it a try!

I can't remember which WWI history I was reading (could figure it out if I went back through my WWI tag), but I found it quite sad to realize that the reason the higher-ups kept authorizing these gigantic bloody clusterfuck battles was that they ALSO wanted the war to be over. Everyone wanted the war to be over and no one could actually end it.

[sanguinity]

And everybody always thought they were six months out from winning the thing. Why they thought they could win it in another six months varied, but the time frame was pretty constant: if we just stick it out another six months, we'll have won...

[ursula]

I just read Janet MacDonald's Feeding Nelson's Navy, which is not a general history of the Napoleonic wars, but is good fun!

[osprey_archer]

That does sound super interesting!

My favorite tidbit about naval food (as it were) was that Captain Cook managed to solve the scurvy problem during his multiple round-the-world voyages... and the navy apparently looked at this and said "Mmm, that's nice," and then proceeded not to implement any of his changes in their other ships, so sailors kept dying of scurvy even though they knew how to prevent it. Good God.

[ursula]

I just learned about night-blindness from Vitamin A deficiency! (Per MacDonald, one of the issues with lemon juice rollout is that the Admiralty treated lemon juice as a medicine you should take after manifesting scurvy, rather than a preventative.)

[skygiants]

I've been thinking for years that someone ought to write this crossover! It's shockingly plausible.

[osprey_archer]

Next crossover exchange, someone should request it. It shouldn't work but it DOES.

[troisoiseaux]

The first story in the collection I'm reading had a journalist named Waldo Winchester, which truly could be the name of a character in either a Wodehouse or Runyon story.

[osprey_archer]

Waldo is probably the one who introduces the gangsters and the Wodehouse upper class twits who are visiting New York.

[ursula]

I'm pretty sure there is a Wodehouse with New York gangsters in it. Might be one of the later Psmiths? (It's burned on my memory because there's a shockingly racist paragraph, which of course appeared as I was reading it on an airplane.)

[asakiyume]

Perfect if you like classic children's fantasy tha tswirls a soupcon of magic into the real world. --Sounds like it lived up to its promise! Glad for that.

[osprey_archer]

I thought the ending was perhaps not QUITE as strong as the earlier bits, but definitely still a fun read overall.

[asakiyume]

Not quite because it was too ambiguous about the magic possibilities? Or something else?

[osprey_archer]

I thought there needed to be a bit more foreshadowing of the shift from very subtle (deniable) magic to VERY OBVIOUS magic, because it seemed a little too abrupt to me.

[asakiyume]

*nodding*
I can definitely understand wanting that!

[sartorias]

The problem with an overview of Napoleon's wars is that the focus will be largely on his land battles. The French at sea get short shrift, except in French. One way to get a look is at a bio of Nap himself, but damned if I know which one to recommend. I have about six of them, two bookshelves worth about his wars, how he supplied them, his style of command, etc etc etc.

[osprey_archer]

At the moment, it would be a step forward for me to know when exactly the French and English were at war, so even basic information about the land battles would help. I've got a hold on a short introduction to the Napoleonic Wars and we'll see where I go from there.

[sartorias]

The easiest way to remember is that Revolutionary Franch was at war with England, then there was a hiccough around 1802 while Nap consolidated his power, then he booted the English ambassador out, the English, who had been confined to their island, and to scrambled to get home again for the next dozen years. (Diaries of this period are especially fascinating!)