Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Strange Pictures, by Uketsu, translated by Jim Rion. Very scary! Made the mistake of reading it in the evening then felt small and scared and sent SOS texts to friends who soothed me with cat pictures. (There’s nothing particularly graphic in the book, but one of the murder methods just struck me as extra scary.)

As with Uketsu’s other novel Strange Houses, the mystery here didn’t strike me as particularly plausible, but who cares when the atmosphere is so impeccable? Propulsively readable. Zipped through the whole thing in one evening and even though I was scared, I wanted another. Maybe there are more Uketsu translations on deck?

I also read Catherine Coneybeare’s Augustine the African, a biography of St. Augustine which focuses on his position as a provincial from North Africa in the late Roman Empire, and the effect this may have had on his theological thought. I’ve long been interested in the Roman Empire, but most of my nonfiction reading has focused on its earlier days, so it was super interesting to learn more about the crumbling of the empire (even after Alaric sacked Rome, it kept chugging along to an amazing extent), and also look at it all from a provincial angle.

I also enjoyed Coneybeare’s emphasis on Augustine’s social networks, and the way the Christian social networks often cut across lines of class and geography - especially after the sack of Rome, when many wealthy Roman Christians fled to North Africa for safety. And she clearly explained both the Donatist and Arian heresies, which have long puzzled me! I’m still working out the details of the Pelagian heresy (too much works, not enough faith?) but one cannot expect to understand all the heresies all at once.

What I’m Reading Now

William Dean Howells’ My Mark Twain, which starts with a description of Twain bursting into the offices of The Atlantic wearing a sealskin coat with the fur out. This is apparently NOT how you wear a sealskin coat, as later on Howells and Twain went walking through Boston together, Howells suffering and Twain exulting in the stares of all the passersby.

What I Plan to Read Next

We’re coming up on my annual St. Patrick’s Day reading! I’m planning to read Sarah Tolmie’s The Fourth Island (about a magical fourth Island of Aran, I believe) and Eve Bunting’s St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning, illustrated by Jan Brett - one of Brett’s earliest books I believe, so I’ll be curious to compare it with her later illustration style.

Comments

[sholio]

.... wait, how are you supposed to wear a seal coat, then? Fur inside? I thought showing off the fur was the whole point of 1800s fashion furs!

[osprey_archer]

To be honest, I'm also baffled by this. Are fur coats in fact supposed to be fur-inward? Have we all been cruelly misled by the fashion faux pas of Cruella de Vil? Or maybe fur coats fur inward was a nineteenth century fashion which was later displaced by fur coats fur out.

[sholio]

The greatest trick Cruella de Vil ever pulled was convincing us the fur should be on the outside ...

No, seriously, but all the Alaska/Canada/Greenland indigenous people put it on the outside too (source: live in Alaska, see a lot of people wearing traditional coats). I think it doesn't even make sense on the inside because even aside from the fashion aspect, the whole point is trapping air; it's like a puffer jacket, if you have the puffy part compressed against your skin, it doesn't do anything!

I can only assume it was a mid-1800s fashion trend that the rest of the world has forgotten about.

[osprey_archer]

And the animals wear the fur on the outside too! Surely proof that the fur SHOULD go on the outside? Truly I think this must be one of the more baffling fashion trends of history?

[kore]

The Augustine book sounds neat!

I am also baffled by the fur coat thing, but I think I just read in a novel set in the 1920s about a fur coat worn with the fur on the inside. IDK. Isn't the fur just for insulation?

[osprey_archer]

Maybe fur on the inside was a fashion statement. Although it seems weird that the fashion statement would involve HIDING the fur? Fashion truly baffling.

[troisoiseaux]

Sarah Tolmie’s The Fourth Island (about a magical fourth Island of Aran, I believe)

Oooh, I should definitely re-read this. (I've also been looking for Irish books to read, as I will be traveling there in a few months!)

[osprey_archer]

Irish books: have you read any Maeve Binchy? I particularly enjoyed Circle of Friends.

I've also been meaning to reread The Hounds of the Morrigan, a fantasy adventure that features a couple of children walking across Ireland meeting magical creatures. I don't remember a ton of detail since it's been twenty years since I read it, but I liked it enough to want to read it again.

[troisoiseaux]

Irish books: have you read any Maeve Binchy?

I have not! I will have to check her out.

[lucymonster]

I’ve been meaning to read the Uketsu books! They’re on prominent display at my local bookshop and have such eye-catching covers.

[osprey_archer]

Just to give you a heads up, Strange Houses involves some history of child death. Everyone who dies in Strange Pictures is an adult, though.

The covers are SO striking!

[lucymonster]

Ah, thanks so much for the warning! ❤️ “History of” seems usually okay these days, so long as I go in prepared, but I’ll proceed with caution.

[wychwood]

I'm glad you enjoyed the Conybeare! It's such an interesting perspective.

When I was first getting interested in heresies, a friend recommended Henry Chadwick, The Early Church - he follows the way it developed, so you get to watch the heresies appear and grow, which is a really good way to understand them. Usually there's a tiny divergence point and then the consequences ramify out and suddenly you have a schism and someone's a heretic! I don't remember if he's strong on the Pelagians in particular, though.

[osprey_archer]

It looks like my library doesn't have that one, but something like that would be helpful not just for the heresies but also to help me bridge the gap between Paul and Augustine.

[wychwood]

W. H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church is also fascinating (although huge and much denser than the Chadwick!) (covers from the Maccabees to the Donatists) - that one you would probably have to go to an academic library for, whereas the Chadwick I did get from an academic library but it's more of a general audience book (still in print, pretty cheaply, at least in the UK!).

[magid]

I’ve got the next Uketsu book, Strange Buildings, on hold with my library, but it hasn’t been purchased yet; I’m not sure when it’ll be out.

[osprey_archer]

My library hasn't even ordered it, alas. Soon? Soon???

[asakiyume]

it was super interesting to learn more about the crumbling of the empire (even after Alaric sacked Rome, it kept chugging along to an amazing extent) --this fact makes me more hopeful (within the obvious parameters suggested by "crumbling of the empire") about the possibility of surviving the next decade or so.

[osprey_archer]

lolsob what a world we live in where this is the immediate reflection suggested by the collapse of the Roman empire.

But yes, it was striking to me how much things just kept going even after Rome was sacked. The sacking of the city had a massive psychological impact, but people kept sending each other letters, theological disputes continued, the Empire kept appointing new provincial governors to Africa and then going to war against their own provincial governors when said governors yet again tried to cut off the grain supply to Rome.