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Wednesday Reading Meme
Dec. 6th, 2023 09:21 amWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Robert Gerwarth’s The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End. I thought the title was a metaphor, but no, Gerwarth’s point is quite literally that the First World War didn’t end for many of the combatants until the early 1920s. Only France, Great Britain, and America enjoyed a cessation of hostilities on November 11, 1918. Germany and Austria continued to suffer street-fighting and internal turmoil, while the smaller successor states that emerged in the wake of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires spent the next few years fighting each other about exactly where their borders ought to lie, and also fighting internally about who ought to run the place anyway. If you have recently felt your faith in humanity to be worryingly high, this is an excellent antidote. Quite depressing.
On a cheerier note, I read Laura Amy Schlitz’s The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm, with splendidly moody and atmospheric illustrations by Max Grafe. A hungry soldier, wandering after the wars, makes a deal with the devil. For seven years he will wear a bearskin. In all that time, he will always have plenty of money - but never cut his hair or trim his beard or clip his nails or wash himself. If he keeps the bargain all seven years, he’ll keep his soul and his money, but if he fails…
Okay, that may not sound exactly cheery, but there’s a dreamy lyricism to the writing, and I enjoyed making the acquaintance of a fairytale I hadn’t read before. And I always enjoy stories about the folktale devil.
What I’m Reading Now
Zipping along in The Woman in White! With the result that everything I want to say about it is a ( spoiler. )
What I Plan to Read Next
I’ve decided to put off Laura Amy Schlitz’s Amber & Clay for now, as comparing it head-to-head with Caroline B. Cooney’s Goddess of Yesterday simply wouldn’t be fair. Also, as Amber & Clay a very recent release, I figure I could find it at most any library, and I want to focus right now on reading the Central Library holdings that aren't readily available elsewhere. Lots of Mary Stolz and Rosemary Sutcliff!
Robert Gerwarth’s The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End. I thought the title was a metaphor, but no, Gerwarth’s point is quite literally that the First World War didn’t end for many of the combatants until the early 1920s. Only France, Great Britain, and America enjoyed a cessation of hostilities on November 11, 1918. Germany and Austria continued to suffer street-fighting and internal turmoil, while the smaller successor states that emerged in the wake of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires spent the next few years fighting each other about exactly where their borders ought to lie, and also fighting internally about who ought to run the place anyway. If you have recently felt your faith in humanity to be worryingly high, this is an excellent antidote. Quite depressing.
On a cheerier note, I read Laura Amy Schlitz’s The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm, with splendidly moody and atmospheric illustrations by Max Grafe. A hungry soldier, wandering after the wars, makes a deal with the devil. For seven years he will wear a bearskin. In all that time, he will always have plenty of money - but never cut his hair or trim his beard or clip his nails or wash himself. If he keeps the bargain all seven years, he’ll keep his soul and his money, but if he fails…
Okay, that may not sound exactly cheery, but there’s a dreamy lyricism to the writing, and I enjoyed making the acquaintance of a fairytale I hadn’t read before. And I always enjoy stories about the folktale devil.
What I’m Reading Now
Zipping along in The Woman in White! With the result that everything I want to say about it is a ( spoiler. )
What I Plan to Read Next
I’ve decided to put off Laura Amy Schlitz’s Amber & Clay for now, as comparing it head-to-head with Caroline B. Cooney’s Goddess of Yesterday simply wouldn’t be fair. Also, as Amber & Clay a very recent release, I figure I could find it at most any library, and I want to focus right now on reading the Central Library holdings that aren't readily available elsewhere. Lots of Mary Stolz and Rosemary Sutcliff!
