Wednesday Thursday Reading Meme (48. Brown Girl Dreaming)

[osprey_archer]

What I've Just Finished Reading

Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming. Here, have an excerpt from another poem:

When I hear the word
revolution
I think of the carousel with
all those beautiful horses
going around as though they'll never stop and me
choosing the purple one each time, climbing up onto it
and reaching for the golden ring, as soft music plays.

The revolution is always going to be happening.

I want to write this down, that the revolution is like
a merry-go-round, history always being made
somewhere. And maybe for a short time,
we're a part of that history. And then the ride stops
and our turn is over.

We walk slow toward the park where I can already see
the big swings, empty and waiting for me.

And after I write it down, maybe I'll end it this way:

My name is Jacqueline Woodson
and I am ready for the ride.

I also finished reading Rosemary Sutcliff's Lady in Waiting, which I enjoyed. It has a sad ending (which it telegraphs on like page 5, so I don't feel like I'm spoiling anything by saying this), but it's not a sad book, not the way for instance The Lantern Bearers is: the main characters have great vitality and life.

And although Queen Elizabeth only appears briefly in the book, I though Sutcliff did an excellent job with her. Often writers seem to be either loyal partisans or bitter opponents (I have the impression that Philippa Gregory loathes Elizabeth Tudor), but Sutcliff's portrayal is more nuanced: Elizabeth is lively and charming, impetuous and sometimes cruel in a cat-like manner, ad while she ultimately puts her realm first, it's sometimes only after she has exhausted all other options.

What I'm Reading Now

I just remembered that I have Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Velvet Room, so I started that. So far, Robin has climbed over a stone fence with a wrought iron gate into a tangled apple orchard. This seems promisingly Gothic.

What I Plan to Read Next

Perhaps Courtney Milan's The Countess Conspiracy? I haven't quite decided yet.

Comments

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

hooray for the countess conspiracy! i wasn't very much into the guy there, or even into the relationship itself, but everything regarding violet was wonderrrrrrrrrrful.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Does Sebastian not angst nicely about how half of England hates him? I was looking forward to watching him angst about how half of England hates him, presumably while Violet snaps her fan irritably against her palm and says, "Sebastian, dear, my first marriage was a total disaster and has filled me with such loathing for the institution that I cannot possibly consider marrying you."

Sebastian: "Half of England hates me...but that pales beside your rejection! WOE."

Violet: "I shall go tend to plants in the conservatory and wait for you to get over yourself. I'll be among the cacti if you need me!"

I'll just have to read it and see.