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Wednesday Reading Meme
Jan. 30th, 2019 08:38 amWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
I finished Emmy-Lou: Her Book and Heart, which ends when Emmy-Lou (who has reached the exalted state of a high school student) quits the school literary society in favor of a new dancing society that has started up. Now normally I am not in favor of characters forgoing intellectual development in favor of romance, but this is probably the only early twentieth century children’s book I’ve read that puts a positive spin on flirting, so that’s interesting, at least.
I also finished up the Odyssey, which ended quite abruptly: the father of one of the suitors Odysseus killed leads a crowd of townsfolk against him, but Athena intervenes and tells both sides to stand down, and bang, that’s it. I guess it’s nice to know that people have been struggling with endings almost as long as they’ve been telling stories.
In more exciting news, I’ve discovered that my alma mater - actually, let me back up a minute here. My alma mater owns a retreat on the shores of Lake Michigan in Door County, where they give weeklong seminar classes over the summer which alumni (indeed, presumably anyone who can pay the fee?) can attend. Next fall, they’re holding one about Emily Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey, which I could pay for using the proceeds of Briarley (provided I stop spending all the proceeds of Briarley on stationary), and… I’m tempted.
What I’m Reading Now
Beryl Markham’s West with the Night, which is reminding me strongly of Mary Grant Bruce’s Billabong series, even though the first is a memoir set in British East Africa and the second is a series of children’s books set in Australia. But both books are set in British colonial possessions in the first half of the twentieth century, and both involve children (en entire section of Markham’s memoir is devoted to her childhood) on remote farms pluckily facing the perils of the local wildlife. Young Markham got mauled by a supposedly-tame lion.
They’ve also both got the same sudden pops of racism, which I suppose it to be expected but nonetheless is jarring.
I’ve also begun Shaun Tan’s Tales of the Inner City, which is actually tales - often very short tales, the perfect size to read while you wait for your tea to steep - of magical or surrealist animals in the city.
What I Plan to Read Next
The 2019 Newbery Awards have been announced! There are only two honor books this year, Veera Hiranandani’s The Night Diary and Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s The Book of Boy, and the big winner is Meg Medina’s Merci Suarez Changes Gears.
I finished Emmy-Lou: Her Book and Heart, which ends when Emmy-Lou (who has reached the exalted state of a high school student) quits the school literary society in favor of a new dancing society that has started up. Now normally I am not in favor of characters forgoing intellectual development in favor of romance, but this is probably the only early twentieth century children’s book I’ve read that puts a positive spin on flirting, so that’s interesting, at least.
I also finished up the Odyssey, which ended quite abruptly: the father of one of the suitors Odysseus killed leads a crowd of townsfolk against him, but Athena intervenes and tells both sides to stand down, and bang, that’s it. I guess it’s nice to know that people have been struggling with endings almost as long as they’ve been telling stories.
In more exciting news, I’ve discovered that my alma mater - actually, let me back up a minute here. My alma mater owns a retreat on the shores of Lake Michigan in Door County, where they give weeklong seminar classes over the summer which alumni (indeed, presumably anyone who can pay the fee?) can attend. Next fall, they’re holding one about Emily Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey, which I could pay for using the proceeds of Briarley (provided I stop spending all the proceeds of Briarley on stationary), and… I’m tempted.
What I’m Reading Now
Beryl Markham’s West with the Night, which is reminding me strongly of Mary Grant Bruce’s Billabong series, even though the first is a memoir set in British East Africa and the second is a series of children’s books set in Australia. But both books are set in British colonial possessions in the first half of the twentieth century, and both involve children (en entire section of Markham’s memoir is devoted to her childhood) on remote farms pluckily facing the perils of the local wildlife. Young Markham got mauled by a supposedly-tame lion.
They’ve also both got the same sudden pops of racism, which I suppose it to be expected but nonetheless is jarring.
I’ve also begun Shaun Tan’s Tales of the Inner City, which is actually tales - often very short tales, the perfect size to read while you wait for your tea to steep - of magical or surrealist animals in the city.
What I Plan to Read Next
The 2019 Newbery Awards have been announced! There are only two honor books this year, Veera Hiranandani’s The Night Diary and Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s The Book of Boy, and the big winner is Meg Medina’s Merci Suarez Changes Gears.
