Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Paula Byrne’s Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead, which I already wrote a bit about last week and which is very much of a piece with what I wrote. If you’re interested in either interwar Britain or Evelyn Waugh it’s interesting, but it’s probably not going to blow your mind. (It did give me a vague yen to read Waugh’s book Put Out More Flags so that’s something.)

And...that’s it. I haven’t gotten much reading done this week. :(

What I’m Reading Now

A. S. Byatt’s Possession, which is interesting but slow. The writing style is very dense, so it takes me a long time to read, although so far it’s been worth it.

What I Plan to Read Next

I have Barbara Hambly’s Crimson Angel! I’m pretty excited about that.

And I’ve also gotten my paws on a copy of Isabella Holland’s Trelawny, which IIRC was one of the books that spawned Modern Gothic, so it should be an interesting read.

Comments

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I know I read Possession but I cannot for my life remember a damn thing about it.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I always find it rather creepy when that happens - as if the whole book just slipped out of my mind. Once I was reading a book only to realize halfway through that I'd read it before, and I finished it again, and even though I've now read it two times I can't remember most of it.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I cannot WAIT for you to read Trelawny. That book is demented in the very best way.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I just started it this afternoon. So far, Kit has tossed away her life to go to the creepy old house she's inherited so she can turn it into an artists' colony out of spite toward her relations. Clearly an excellent life choice!

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, that already sounds excellent!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

There are a number of characters making interesting life choices in that book.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I've just finished it and OH MY GOD what is wrooooong with all of them (I mean this in a vastly entertained but seriously WTF kind of way.)

Especially the doctor. "I decided to make a fourteen-year-old girl fall for me so I could marry her and inherit this house, but then I fell for her, but then I realized I would have to marry you to get the house so I decided to kill the fourteen-year-old because actually my one true love is the house/Trelawny family!"

Although I am also totally suspicious about Giles' proposal at the end. Does he really love Kit...or is he just trying to keep all the Trelawny property in the family?

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

HA HA HA. I eagerly await your review!

I agree, the doctor's motives are incredibly WTF. Though only slightly more than the others'. I am still not sure if the person at the end is technically Giles or not, or how one even defines "Giles" under the circumstances.

In all Gothics, no one ever loves a person more than they love the house.