Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Ngaio Marsh’s Killer Dolphin, which is a cracking good read despite the lack of murderous cetaceans. It’s one of her theater mysteries, which always seem to be excellent (Marsh was a theater director when she wasn’t writing mystery novels), and this one is set in a lovely atmospheric old Victorian theater to boot.

It’s also the first Marsh book I’ve read with a gay character who is not a walking bundle of stereotypes, so that’s nice.

What I’m Reading Now

Sara Jeannette Duncan’s An American Girl in London, which is about, well, an American girl in the late 19th century visiting London, and as such a gold mine of fascinating detail about English life and manners at the time (and also, in a sideways sort of way, about America: it’s always interesting to see what Duncan chooses to comment on). Duncan is a delightful and sprightly writer, and I’m very much enjoying it.

What I Plan to Read Next

I put Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on hold, but as I’m forty-eight on the holds list, it’s probably going to be a while...

I’ve also realized that I will in the not-too-distant future finish reading War and Peace (!!!), so I’m going to need a new book for bedtime reading. I contemplated diving into The Count of Monte Cristo, because it’s also a million pages long and after all reading War and Peace each night has proven a successful strategy to get through it. But the thought made me feel tired, so I think I’ll do a shorter book for a breather. Perhaps Eva Ibbotson’s The Star of Kazan? It’s been sitting on my shelves, waiting to be read.

Comments

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

Sara Jeanette Duncan! Another author I keep meaning to read.

I also keep forgetting there's a new Harry Potter thing, then remembering and re-shelving it instantly. It's not that I'm done with Harry Potter or anything, but Detective Rowling has completely eclipsed HP Rowling in my mind.

I’ve also realized that I will in the not-too-distant future finish reading War and Peace (!!!), so I’m going to need a new book for bedtime reading.

Your Proust needs you!

joooooinnnnnn uuuuuusss

(wait, that isn't something shorter at all)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yessss, you should read some Sara Jeannette Duncan! The Imperialist is probably her most famous book, although I found it awfully boring; An American Girl in London is much more delightful.

And I really liked A Daughter of To-day, which is a sort of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl book (with a certain amount of New Woman book), although it definitely has its flaws and I have some reservations about the ending.

But I already own The Count of Monte Cristo. If I were going to read Proust I would have to go out and acquire it.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

48!!! You must live in a bigger city than I do, as this just inspired me to do the same, and I'm #10, with four copies....

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Either that, or we are all totally wild for Harry Potter here.

I will note that I moved up the holds list to 35 in between the time that I wrote and posted this entry, so it could also just be that your library has been speedier getting the copies out to patrons.

[minutia-r.livejournal.com]

I would just like to point out that The Count of Monte Cristo is a) excellent and b) has canon lesbians.

(I mean, they're pretty minor characters and until their last scene or two their relationship is kind of ambiguous, but. EUGENIE AND LOUISE. That is all.)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It's hard to say no to canon lesbians! Although there's an awful lot of stuff in there that is not lesbians, too.