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Wednesday Reading Meme
Oct. 15th, 2014 10:16 amWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons, which took a while to get started. The first third of the book or so is a “sprightly intellectual girl chafes against the restrictions of her society” story, which I have read a thousand times and which is only slightly enlivened by the addition of dragons.
But after that it slowly transforms into my favorite kind of mystery, where it takes the characters a long time to even realize that there is a mystery, and by the time they figure out that they’ve stumbled into the center of webs upon webs of intrigue they’re in so far over their heads that they can barely swim. Excellent! And I thought Brennan did a masterful job explaining it all, too: everything fits together in the end.
I also very much enjoyed Isabella’s not-quite-friendship with her maid Dagmira (they never really have a meeting of minds, but they slowly grow to depend on each other), and her friendship with her husband Jacob. It is as much a friendship as a romantic relationship - as Isabella points out, none of the lovers’ cliches apply to them - but I love the way that they support and take care of each other.
( Spoilers )
What I’m Reading Now
Adam Gopnik’s Through the Children’s Gate, which is a sort of transitional book between the sublimity of Paris to the Moon and Gopnik’s current writing, which reflects a morbid obsession with mortality. Okay, yes, many things can be compared to death, but NONETHELESS it gets tedious if death is your only and your overriding metaphor.
Through the Children’s Gate only shows this obsession in its pupal states, however, and mainly in the chapters about New York City after September 11th, where it actually makes a lot of sense. I still think Paris to the Moon is his best book (although I did like his children’s book The King in the Window a lot), but this one is worth reading - not least for his daughter’s immensely New York imaginary friend Charlie Ravioli, who is always too busy to play with her.
What I Plan to Read Next
I intend to read the sequel to A Natural History of Dragons eventually, although I don’t feel any particular urgency about it. Oh! And I have the next Benjamin January book, Crimson Angel, on hold at the library. Who knows when I'll get it, but I'm pretty excited!
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sineala, are you still up for reading H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy?
Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons, which took a while to get started. The first third of the book or so is a “sprightly intellectual girl chafes against the restrictions of her society” story, which I have read a thousand times and which is only slightly enlivened by the addition of dragons.
But after that it slowly transforms into my favorite kind of mystery, where it takes the characters a long time to even realize that there is a mystery, and by the time they figure out that they’ve stumbled into the center of webs upon webs of intrigue they’re in so far over their heads that they can barely swim. Excellent! And I thought Brennan did a masterful job explaining it all, too: everything fits together in the end.
I also very much enjoyed Isabella’s not-quite-friendship with her maid Dagmira (they never really have a meeting of minds, but they slowly grow to depend on each other), and her friendship with her husband Jacob. It is as much a friendship as a romantic relationship - as Isabella points out, none of the lovers’ cliches apply to them - but I love the way that they support and take care of each other.
( Spoilers )What I’m Reading Now
Adam Gopnik’s Through the Children’s Gate, which is a sort of transitional book between the sublimity of Paris to the Moon and Gopnik’s current writing, which reflects a morbid obsession with mortality. Okay, yes, many things can be compared to death, but NONETHELESS it gets tedious if death is your only and your overriding metaphor.
Through the Children’s Gate only shows this obsession in its pupal states, however, and mainly in the chapters about New York City after September 11th, where it actually makes a lot of sense. I still think Paris to the Moon is his best book (although I did like his children’s book The King in the Window a lot), but this one is worth reading - not least for his daughter’s immensely New York imaginary friend Charlie Ravioli, who is always too busy to play with her.
What I Plan to Read Next
I intend to read the sequel to A Natural History of Dragons eventually, although I don’t feel any particular urgency about it. Oh! And I have the next Benjamin January book, Crimson Angel, on hold at the library. Who knows when I'll get it, but I'm pretty excited!
sineala, are you still up for reading H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy?
