Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I've Finished Reading

Rosemary Kirstein's The Steerswoman, which I quite enjoyed! Rowan, a wandering steerswoman - that is, a woman who has devoted her life to solving intellectual puzzles; sort of like a jack-of-all-trades scientist person - teams up with warrior woman Bel to solve the mystery of some odd gems that have appeared across the land. I love unlikely team-up stories, and it's especially rare to get them about two women, so I quite enjoyed this even though the mystery aspect didn't really hold my fancy. Mind, I like the idea of an intellectual puzzle as the driving force of the book; I just didn't feel Kirstein quite pulled it off. But perhaps that will improve in later books.

I also read Jean Kwok's Girl in Translation, because I am a hopeless sucker for books about young immigrants who come to America and struggle to adapt to their new environment. The Secret Voice of Gina Zhang is probably my all-time favorite in this regard, although I quite like Thanhha Lai's Inside Out and Back Again too. It occurs to me that the Kirsten American Girl books are also a variation on this theme.

Girl in Translation is an adult book, and it's emotionally a bit rougher than the books listed above; Kimberley, the heroine, works in a sweatshop, and she and her mother live in a horrible cockroach infested apartment. But it doesn't (in my opinion) descend to the level of misery porn; Kimberley's life is tough, but it's not an unending stream of gloom. (Her best friend Annette is a particular bright spot.) And it's incredibly readable: I read the whole thing in a day because I couldn't bear to put it down, even though really not all that much happens.

What I'm Reading Now

I've been reading Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption on my lunch breaks at work, and it's so compelling that I've actually been getting impatient on my days off because I want to read more of it already! But it's probably a good thing to have it cut up into half hour chunks, because as compelling as it is, it's also exhausting: it's about how the American prison system (and particularly the Alabama prison system; but really the whole prison system) is a mess of misery and injustice and general awfulness.

I wouldn't call it a depressing book, not least because Stevenson seems to be a font of optimism who still believes in the possibility of reform after decades of working with this hellhole, but it's heavy stuff and definitely easier to read in small doses. But definitely worth reading if the subject interests you.

I'm also poking away at John Marsden's Letters from the Inside, an epistolary novel, but it - like all the other Marsden novels I've read - is not quite grabbing me. (I read about half of his Tomorrow, When the War Began series as a teenager before finally allowing myself to give up. How could vigilante teenagers fighting invaders fail to grab me? But they did.) But it's very short, so I'll probably finish it in hopes that the letter writers' voices will eventually become more differentiated.

What I Plan to Read Next

I added so many books to my to-read list this week, it's kind of ridiculous. Everyone is posting about great books they're reading! littlerhymes wrote about a nineteenth century novel called Miss Marjoribanks that sounds right up my alley - Lucilla Marjoribanks takes over the social life of her small town, like a militant but kindly Flora Post who has invaded Cranford! With only the best intentions, of course.

And ladyherenya posted about Elizabeth Wein's newest book, Black Dove, White Raven, which is about a pair of mid-twentieth century girl pilots (this is clearly becoming Wein's genre. I have no objections) and also sounds amazing.

But I've already gotten Alif the Unseen from the library, because asakiyume posted about how much she's enjoying it, so probably I will read that first.

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I would definitely keep reading the Steerswoman books. The first is the weakest, and I think she definitely pulls off what you're looking for in later books. (Though, did you read the first one, or the omnibus of the first two? Have you met Bel's people yet?)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I haven't met Bel's people yet, so I think I must have just read the first one. It ends with the young fellow becoming a wizard's apprentice, and Bel and Rowan are heading to the Outskirts to learn more about the special stones.

[littlerhymes]

I've heard so much about Steerswoman. *adds to neverending list*

I read Letters from the Inside as a young teenager and loved it, but I think it's very much a case of reading it at the right age and right moment. I could never get into Tomorrow When the War Began either which was a pity, since they were inescapable when I was growing up... Basically, the Aussie Hunger Games of our generation, lol.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Most of my experiences with Australian YA authors were good, which I guess must be why I stuck with Marsden for so long. But it was just at the wrong spot on the continuum from action/adventure to grit: too gritty for the adventure parts to be fun, but not quite gritty enough for me to take it seriously as a depiction of Life In a War Zone.

I actually ended up getting pretty into Letters from the Inside by the end, though; I think Tracy's letters get more distinctive once she stops lying all the time. And the ending makes me so worried for them both!

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

Not enough differentiation is the cardinal sin of epistolary novels. I can forgive them so much if they just differentiate.

I should read Just Mercy, but knowing me I'll probably just spend a much longer time feeling guilty about not reading it instead.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

The letters differentiate a bit more as time goes by, but I think the book would have been much stronger if the two voices had been clearer from the start. I suppose that must be harder than it looks, though, because this is not an uncommon problem in epistolary novels.

[ladyherenya]

I was captivated Tomorrow When the War Began (which was a good thing, because I had to study it at school), but was oh so very bored by the sequel. Seemed like nothing worth remembering happened, and I couldn't understand why! A classmate who finished the series kept me updated on major events (mainly character deaths), so I felt no need to read any further...

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I read until...I can't remember which number, but I read until the book where they get rescued and taken to New Zealand. And then I started the next book, and they were safe in New Zealand but then they decided to go back, and that was just too much for me.