Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons, which took a while to get started. The first third of the book or so is a “sprightly intellectual girl chafes against the restrictions of her society” story, which I have read a thousand times and which is only slightly enlivened by the addition of dragons.

But after that it slowly transforms into my favorite kind of mystery, where it takes the characters a long time to even realize that there is a mystery, and by the time they figure out that they’ve stumbled into the center of webs upon webs of intrigue they’re in so far over their heads that they can barely swim. Excellent! And I thought Brennan did a masterful job explaining it all, too: everything fits together in the end.

I also very much enjoyed Isabella’s not-quite-friendship with her maid Dagmira (they never really have a meeting of minds, but they slowly grow to depend on each other), and her friendship with her husband Jacob. It is as much a friendship as a romantic relationship - as Isabella points out, none of the lovers’ cliches apply to them - but I love the way that they support and take care of each other.



I was sad when he died, although I kind of knew it must be coming: how would Isabella become Lady Trent if she were married to a mere Mister? And better to have him die in the first book than to let readers spend book upon book getting invested in their beautiful friendship, only to kill him off cruelly.



What I’m Reading Now

Adam Gopnik’s Through the Children’s Gate, which is a sort of transitional book between the sublimity of Paris to the Moon and Gopnik’s current writing, which reflects a morbid obsession with mortality. Okay, yes, many things can be compared to death, but NONETHELESS it gets tedious if death is your only and your overriding metaphor.

Through the Children’s Gate only shows this obsession in its pupal states, however, and mainly in the chapters about New York City after September 11th, where it actually makes a lot of sense. I still think Paris to the Moon is his best book (although I did like his children’s book The King in the Window a lot), but this one is worth reading - not least for his daughter’s immensely New York imaginary friend Charlie Ravioli, who is always too busy to play with her.

What I Plan to Read Next

I intend to read the sequel to A Natural History of Dragons eventually, although I don’t feel any particular urgency about it. Oh! And I have the next Benjamin January book, Crimson Angel, on hold at the library. Who knows when I'll get it, but I'm pretty excited!

sineala, are you still up for reading H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy?

Comments

[sineala.livejournal.com]

Sure; I just have to, uh, finish Ancillary Sword first...

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

That's cool! Just let me know when you want to give it a go.

I should probably read Ancillary Justice et all at some point, anyway.

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

I love those sprightly intellectual girls.

Oh! And I'm going to start reading Benjamin January, just as soon as my book gets here! I'm excited about that.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I do too! I've just read so many of them that I've become a bit picky, I guess. Although actually "natural history buff" is different enough from most of the other sprightly intellectual girls (they are so often literary) that it should have piqued my interest on its own... Maybe the first third is just a bit slow in general.

And hooray for Benjamin January! The first two books are definitely the roughest in the series, emotionally speaking: I found Fever Season very hard to get through. But the series as a whole is lovely.

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

I loved A Natural History of Dragons but I actually prefered the sequel - partly because it plunges more quickly into the cool adventuring dragon parts because we've already established that she chafes under the society rules (which, as you say, we've read before) So I totally recommend it. :)

And I was sad about Jacob's death too ... poor Jacob. I thought it was very well done though and I loved their relationship, it was nice to see something rather different.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that the sequel plunges into the dragon parts more quickly! I figured it might, but it's good to have confirmation.

And yes, poor Jacob! Dead of narrative inevitability, poor man. They were lovely together!