Wednesday Reading Meme
Apr. 23rd, 2014 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, which I’ve been meaning to read since...fourth grade or so. I probably would have read the hell out of it if I read it back then, but it seems rather thin now.
Also Eva Ibbotson’s A Countess Below Stairs, which I adored. Anna is one of those heroines who conquers the world and everyone's hearts through the sheer magnitude of her vivacious zest for life and kindness (think Anne of Green Gables, or Sara Crew from A Little Princess, or Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket), and it's always fun to read about someone who is just having such a great time being alive.
I also thought Ibbotson did a lovely job with Anna's dialogue: the rhythm of the dialogue makes it clear that Anna, though fluent, is not a native English speaker (she was a Russian countess before the revolution), without the awkward expedients of tossing in random non-English words or trying to write her dialogue phonetically.
What I’m Reading Now
Barbara Hambly's Sold Down the River, in which Benjamin January agrees to pose as a slave in order to investigate a murder. I have spent the first few chapters sending loud waves of "DON'T DO IT" at the book, because this can only end in tears/floggings/actually being sold down the river and disappearing into the gaping maw of the slave economy. But as so often happens none of the characters are listening to my prognostications.
I also was listening to Anna and the French Kiss, but the second disc wouldn't play correctly and I'm not sure I care enough to seek out another way to read it. I suspect that the heroine's sort-of boyfriend Toph and her BFF Bridget are going to end up together, what with the heroine being across an ocean in Paris (and thus clearing the way for the heroine to be with St. Clare without having to shoulder the guilt of breaking up with Toph). I feel no enthusiasm for this possible future plot.
What I Plan to Read Next
I actually have no plan. I'm waiting for a bunch of books that I have on hold at the library - Longbourn, The Goblin Emperor - so I'll just have to see which one shows up first.
Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, which I’ve been meaning to read since...fourth grade or so. I probably would have read the hell out of it if I read it back then, but it seems rather thin now.
Also Eva Ibbotson’s A Countess Below Stairs, which I adored. Anna is one of those heroines who conquers the world and everyone's hearts through the sheer magnitude of her vivacious zest for life and kindness (think Anne of Green Gables, or Sara Crew from A Little Princess, or Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket), and it's always fun to read about someone who is just having such a great time being alive.
I also thought Ibbotson did a lovely job with Anna's dialogue: the rhythm of the dialogue makes it clear that Anna, though fluent, is not a native English speaker (she was a Russian countess before the revolution), without the awkward expedients of tossing in random non-English words or trying to write her dialogue phonetically.
What I’m Reading Now
Barbara Hambly's Sold Down the River, in which Benjamin January agrees to pose as a slave in order to investigate a murder. I have spent the first few chapters sending loud waves of "DON'T DO IT" at the book, because this can only end in tears/floggings/actually being sold down the river and disappearing into the gaping maw of the slave economy. But as so often happens none of the characters are listening to my prognostications.
I also was listening to Anna and the French Kiss, but the second disc wouldn't play correctly and I'm not sure I care enough to seek out another way to read it. I suspect that the heroine's sort-of boyfriend Toph and her BFF Bridget are going to end up together, what with the heroine being across an ocean in Paris (and thus clearing the way for the heroine to be with St. Clare without having to shoulder the guilt of breaking up with Toph). I feel no enthusiasm for this possible future plot.
What I Plan to Read Next
I actually have no plan. I'm waiting for a bunch of books that I have on hold at the library - Longbourn, The Goblin Emperor - so I'll just have to see which one shows up first.
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Date: 2014-04-23 09:29 pm (UTC)