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Wednesday Reading Meme
Oct. 23rd, 2013 12:22 amWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, which was...well, it was okay. This was the second book I’ve read by Morpurgo that I’ve found somewhat bafflingly bland, so I think I’ll stop trying.
What I’m Reading Now
ALL THE THINGS. I should probably stop starting new books and focus on finishing things...
1. Robin McKinley’s Rose Daughter, still. Beauty has just arrived at the Beast’s castle!
2. Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, still. There is clearly some strong Victorian imperative toward defining “virtuous” and “powerfully stupid” as overlapping categories, because I have not met a hero this oblivious since Marco Loristan. Oliver falls into the hands of the obviously skeevy Fagin, who owns more gold watches than he has pockets, puts Oliver to work taking the distinguishing marks out of handkerchiefs, and teaches him how to pickpocket.
He’s like nine, so I could understand why he doesn’t understand about the watches and the handkerchiefs, but good heavens, Fagin is literally teaching him how to pickpocket! How can Oliver fail to notice that he’s being trained as a thief? Yet Oliver is stunned, stunned when he discovers that pickpocketing is in fact the gainful employment that Fagin means to offer him.
I mean really. He doesn’t even have the excuse of being a Loristan.
3. Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers. I picked this book out because of the title, which is probably an even worse idea than picking a book by it’s cover (I read Crown Duel for its cover, so clearly this method works sometimes…) - but so far it’s been working out all right.
Our heroine, Victoria, has spent most of her childhood in foster care. Standoffish, misanthropic, and isolated, she communicates mainly through the language of flowers - a safe choice, because no one else knows how to answer. Until one day, a young man does…
This capsule description makes it sound like a sappy romance, which is isn’t really (although I haven’t finished it yet, so I guess Victoria could be Healed By True Love. I’ll warn you if that happens). It’s about family love and lies and things falling apart, and maybe being able to put something together again - still broken, but together.
What I Plan to Read Next
Anton DiScafani’s The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls.
Oh, and I’m thinking about reading Madeleine L’Engle’s And Both Were Young. My knowledge of L’Engle’s work is awfully patchy, because I found A House Like a Lotus so alarming that I pretty much stopped reading her work afterward. The Wikipedia page tells me that Polly’s mentor figure does not, in fact, attempt to rape her, but that is totally what I got out of that scene.
Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, which was...well, it was okay. This was the second book I’ve read by Morpurgo that I’ve found somewhat bafflingly bland, so I think I’ll stop trying.
What I’m Reading Now
ALL THE THINGS. I should probably stop starting new books and focus on finishing things...
1. Robin McKinley’s Rose Daughter, still. Beauty has just arrived at the Beast’s castle!
2. Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, still. There is clearly some strong Victorian imperative toward defining “virtuous” and “powerfully stupid” as overlapping categories, because I have not met a hero this oblivious since Marco Loristan. Oliver falls into the hands of the obviously skeevy Fagin, who owns more gold watches than he has pockets, puts Oliver to work taking the distinguishing marks out of handkerchiefs, and teaches him how to pickpocket.
He’s like nine, so I could understand why he doesn’t understand about the watches and the handkerchiefs, but good heavens, Fagin is literally teaching him how to pickpocket! How can Oliver fail to notice that he’s being trained as a thief? Yet Oliver is stunned, stunned when he discovers that pickpocketing is in fact the gainful employment that Fagin means to offer him.
I mean really. He doesn’t even have the excuse of being a Loristan.
3. Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers. I picked this book out because of the title, which is probably an even worse idea than picking a book by it’s cover (I read Crown Duel for its cover, so clearly this method works sometimes…) - but so far it’s been working out all right.
Our heroine, Victoria, has spent most of her childhood in foster care. Standoffish, misanthropic, and isolated, she communicates mainly through the language of flowers - a safe choice, because no one else knows how to answer. Until one day, a young man does…
This capsule description makes it sound like a sappy romance, which is isn’t really (although I haven’t finished it yet, so I guess Victoria could be Healed By True Love. I’ll warn you if that happens). It’s about family love and lies and things falling apart, and maybe being able to put something together again - still broken, but together.
What I Plan to Read Next
Anton DiScafani’s The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls.
Oh, and I’m thinking about reading Madeleine L’Engle’s And Both Were Young. My knowledge of L’Engle’s work is awfully patchy, because I found A House Like a Lotus so alarming that I pretty much stopped reading her work afterward. The Wikipedia page tells me that Polly’s mentor figure does not, in fact, attempt to rape her, but that is totally what I got out of that scene.
