Wednesday Reading Meme

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Fellow fans of mid-twentieth-century British literature! I have a treat for you! I have just finished reading D. E. Stevenson’s Miss Buncle’s Book, which is about a sweet English spinster who writes a book about her fellow townsfolk and thus ignites scandal in her little country village.

If you’re a fan of Stella Gibbons’ books or Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - even some of Ngaio Marsh’s country village murder mysteries - this is an absolutely splendid book in much the same vein. It has wry humor and vivid characterization and that wonderful command of language that makes British books from the 1930s and 40s such a joy to read.

(A more modern book that captures a similar style - on account of being set in the period - is The Guernsy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I also love. My mother and I have very different tastes in books, but we both enjoyed this one.)

What I’m Reading Now

Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. I was sitting around, going “What French books can I read that are not one thousand pages long?” - answer: NONE, all French novels worth their salt are that long; and then I remembered Jules Verne! He wrote perfectly respectable novels! I have been meaning to read some of his work!

In fact I attempted to read Journey to the Center of the Earth last spring, and didn’t even make it into the volcano. But doubtless the experiment will be more successful this time! I have just finished the first chapter, and Passepartout-the-new-manservant seems promising.

What I’m Reading Next

My parents are coming to visit this weekend, and Mom has promised to bring down the box set of Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence, so I’m finally going to get around to that.

Firefly Wednesday: The Message

I haven't posted about Firefly for a while, because we missed a couple of weeks and also because there are only so many ways that I can say "I wish Mal and Inara would never speak to each other again, because the fact that we're supposed to find their relationship romantic makes me weep for humanity."

But we have arrived at "The Message," and I hate everything about "The Message" except Jayne's hat and that weird ice cream thing that River is trying to eat.

But once Tracy shows up, the episode is pretty much an exercise in idiot plotting. I hate it because his death is just so pointless and avoidable, because none of it would have happened if they had just told him their plan.

Normally I would just blame Mal for this, given that Mal has a history of not explaining his plans for no apparent reason just to assert his masculinity. But I can't, because it's Shepherd Book's, and everyone else on the crew (except Kaylee) knows about it. Why, during two lengthy stand-offs, does no one even try to explain "We have a plan to save you"?

And then the other characters, who never explained their plan to Tracy, tell him it's all his fault he died. Um, no, it's your fault for not explaining anything and for being trigger happy!

Moreover! If the plan is as simple as telling the Feds "We know you're out of your jurisdiction, go away," why didn't they just do that over the com system? Sure, the Feds might have just gone ahead and shot Serenity out of the sky, but they could do that just as well once they get their ship back in the air. In fact, now that the Feds have actually been on Serenity, they know right where it is which will make destroying it easier.

And the Feds have plenty of reason to destroy it! There's no longer anything they want on the ship to stop the Feds from blowing it up; and the crew does have information that could get the Feds in a ton of trouble if it gets out. They have very good reason to destroy Serenity.

Worst. Episode. Ever.