Wednesday Reading Meme
Nov. 19th, 2014 05:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
I slogged through C. S. Lewis’s An Allegory of Love, and was rewarded by the lovely final chapter about Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, which Lewis clearly adores. I enjoyed the chapter so much that I’m thinking about reading The Faerie Queen itself, although I might bomb out on it just like Pilgrim’s Progress (another allegorical poem that Lewis loved). Has anyone read it? What did you think?
I also finished Anya von Bremzen's Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, which I loved. There are a lot of poignant passages, but the one that really sticks in my head is the one about how the Soviet state had so thoroughly co-opted all the best words - friendship, loyalty, freedom, equality - that it became difficult to use them or even to feel them in a non-Party context without an ironic sneer.
What I’m Reading Now
J. B. Priestley's The Good Companions, a book which will be (Wikipedia informs me) about a choral society, after Priestley spends two hundred or so pages getting the main characters in the same place. They had very different beliefs about pacing in the early twentieth century, clearly, because I can't imagine a major publisher now who would let a writer meander forever like that. I'm not sure how I feel about it myself. I'll get back to you once I've read the book.
Sherwood Smith's Spy Princess, which I've just started. It looks like it's going to be another book with a strong sibling bond at the heart of the story, which is something I always enjoy in her work, so I'm looking forward to the ride.
What I Plan to Read Next
I actually have no plans at this point. The Good Companions is approximately seven hundred pages long, so it may occupy me all next week anyway.
I slogged through C. S. Lewis’s An Allegory of Love, and was rewarded by the lovely final chapter about Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, which Lewis clearly adores. I enjoyed the chapter so much that I’m thinking about reading The Faerie Queen itself, although I might bomb out on it just like Pilgrim’s Progress (another allegorical poem that Lewis loved). Has anyone read it? What did you think?
I also finished Anya von Bremzen's Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, which I loved. There are a lot of poignant passages, but the one that really sticks in my head is the one about how the Soviet state had so thoroughly co-opted all the best words - friendship, loyalty, freedom, equality - that it became difficult to use them or even to feel them in a non-Party context without an ironic sneer.
What I’m Reading Now
J. B. Priestley's The Good Companions, a book which will be (Wikipedia informs me) about a choral society, after Priestley spends two hundred or so pages getting the main characters in the same place. They had very different beliefs about pacing in the early twentieth century, clearly, because I can't imagine a major publisher now who would let a writer meander forever like that. I'm not sure how I feel about it myself. I'll get back to you once I've read the book.
Sherwood Smith's Spy Princess, which I've just started. It looks like it's going to be another book with a strong sibling bond at the heart of the story, which is something I always enjoy in her work, so I'm looking forward to the ride.
What I Plan to Read Next
I actually have no plans at this point. The Good Companions is approximately seven hundred pages long, so it may occupy me all next week anyway.
