Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

You should take my opinion of William Deresiewicz’s Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life with a couple of handfuls of salt, because he was very much preaching to the choir here. It was a library book, so I didn't actually draw sparkly little hearts around the section where he talks about how research has supplanted teaching as the central duty of professors (with predictably awful results for undergraduates, and perhaps not quite as predictably awful results for the general quality of published research), but that was definitely my feeling about a lot of what he wrote.

I particularly liked this quote: "The problem is that students are incessantly encouraged to believe that academic excellence is excellence, full stop, that better at school means simply better - better morally, better metaphysically, higher on some absolute scale of human virtue." (214)

I know people who believe this, or an even stronger form: higher not just on a scale of virtue, but on a scale of absolute worth. It's a catastrophic belief, both in terms of social consequences - as Deresiewicz notes, the downside of the meritocracy is that the people at the top believe they deserve it (the very definition of meritocracy being, after all, rule by the most meritorious) and can't see that in many cases, the game was rigged in their favor: something like 75% of Ivy League students come from the top 25% of wage-earners.

But also because if you fail at anything, well then. You've just proved you're one of the worthless.

What I’m Reading Now

Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons, which is basically dragons in Regency England, if England were called Scirland and London were named Falchester. I have the impression that Brennan threw up her hands and said “Screw it, I don’t want to do a bunch of research about the Napoleonic Wars, I want to focus on DRAGONS.”

Which seems legit. I feel like many authors would benefit from this approach. If you don’t care at all about the actual history, invent an alternate universe with period flavor! It would warn off serious history buffs and entice in the readers who are interested in the period tropes.

(And not just authors. If the producers of Reign had just admitted to themselves that they had no interest in history and set it in an alternate universe vaguely inspired by Mary Queen of Scots, all my qualms about watching it would disappear.)

What I Plan to Read Next

Maureen Johnson’s The Madness Underneath, the sequel to The Name of the Star.

Oh oh! And I have Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s Season of Ponies! Multi-colored horses, here I come!

Comments

[girl-called-sun.livejournal.com]

I've just started A Natural History of Dragons, and I'm enjoying it so far - thanks for the rec!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Glad you're enjoying it!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I read the pretty pastel ponies book a couple months ago.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I've been vaguely meaning to read it for ages, but when your post told me that it had pastel-colored ponies, I decided I needed to get my hands on a copy.

[silverusagi]

If the producers of Reign had just admitted to themselves that they had no interest in history and set it in an alternate universe vaguely inspired by Mary Queen of Scots, all my qualms about watching it would disappear.

This is the reason I just can't bring myself to watch.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'll see stills from it, and the costumes are so pretty! And I'll read discussions of it, and the plotlines sound interesting! In a soapy sort of way!

And then I think, "But my suspension of disbelief will completely shatter every time someone mentions Mary Queen of Scots! Or Catherine de Medici! Or the Tudors! Honestly, how can they think that those costumes are even if the right ballpark for Tudor gowns?" And it's just not worth it.

[silverusagi]

Honestly, how can they think that those costumes are even if the right ballpark for Tudor gowns?

Or that they wore their hair like that, or that that was the etiquette they adhered to.

Really, it should just be some fictitious kingdom somewhere.

Though I feel that wouldn't go over well with the network and such (despite the success of Game of Thrones). "When does this take place? What do you mean, it never took place? What country is it set it? None? Viewers are going to be confused! No one will watch!"

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It really, really should. And you'd think that the success of GoT would make the producers comfortable with that: GoT is War of the Roses in Fantasyland, so Reign could be Tudors in Less!Grimdark!Fantasyland! There's your elevator pitch right there.

[sineala.livejournal.com]

So is A Natural History of Dragons worth it? I've been eyeing it for a while, because dragons.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I'm only about a third of the way through, but I'm enjoying it so far. The pacing and the language are both rather stately (there's a definite element of Jane Austen pastiche about the book), which holds the reader at a bit of a remove and makes it less gripping, but it's never boring.

I think it's going to be a good comfort read (albeit a good comfort read where people sometimes get mauled by dragons).

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

i really adore the "BUT WITH DRAGONS" approach to historical fiction: pick and choose parts you don't like, add the parts you REALLY like, don't mess anything up by misrepresenting things, HAVE ALL THE FUN. it's like steampunk (in a really wide sense) is, occasionally, for these cases when you want to write fantasy with indoors plumbing.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think the spanner in the works here is "don't mess up by misrepresenting things" - because you have to do a certain amount of research to make sure you know what that would look like, right?

But when this sort of thing is done right, then it's super fun. I am still looking for the steampunk book of my heart.

[poeticknowledge.livejournal.com]

Sad news regarding Zilpha Keatley Snyder:

http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/3428041.html

I don't think I've ever read any of her books, but it still comes as sad news nonetheless. May she rest in peace. <3

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

NO THAT'S SO SAD. SO SAD.

Did you get my email? The one about the tea party where we ate the chocolate you sent? It was most delicious chocolate. We also really liked the cranberry-pumpkin scones. I wouldn't have thought of the combination myself, but it's sort of like Thanksgiving condensed into scone form.

[poeticknowledge.livejournal.com]

I sure did! :) I still need to respond to several of your emails, but haven't quite had the chance to yet. I also got your beautiful card/letter a week or so ago (the one you bought in England). :) So glad you enjoyed everything so thoroughly! Wonderful! :) You didn't happen to take any pictures of your tea party, did you?

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I did take a few photos, but they didn't come out that well - the chocolate leaves looked splendid sitting on the saucers next to the teacups, but the cellophane wrapping reflected the light so you can't really see them in the photo. But it was very atmospheric and autumnal!