Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Frances M. Wood’s When Molly Was a Harvey Girl, which is cute but not as excellent as Becoming Rosemary. I’m starting to think Wood, like Patrice Kindl, might be a one hit wonder for me: they both have one book I adored, and all their other books are underwhelming.

What I’m Reading Now

Still The Cracks in the Kingdom. I haven’t been reading very much because I’ve been so busy writing.

I’ve also been listening to Sarah Orne Jewett’s A Country Doctor, which I expected to love because it’s about a young woman becoming a doctor in the late 19th century. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect book for me? But I can’t get into it, and I’ve figured out why: it’s all narration, or almost all of it, almost all telling and very little showing.

I actually enjoy that sort of thing in moderation - I love the beginnings of Jane Austen’s books, say, where she spends a chapter introducing the cast of characters and telling you what they’re like. But the key words here are “in moderation.”

What I Plan to Read Next

I’ve got Eva Ibbotson’s A Countess Below Stairs on my to-read shelf. I’m also planning to read the next Benjamin January book.

Comments

[konstantya.livejournal.com]

Ah! I read A Countess Below Stairs a few years back. I remember having some issues with the secondary characters (as in, I thought there were too many of them, and too much time spent on them instead of, yanno, the MAIN characters and story), and I don't think I was entirely sold on the heroine's feelings for the hero, but it was enjoyable enough and different enough (WWI-era, yesss) that it has stuck in my head, nonetheless. I've actually been considering giving it a reread, so it'll be neat to hear your thoughts on it.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

A surprising number of Ibbotson fans have come out of the woodwork since I started reading her books. There should be more books about Russian emigres after the revolution!