Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

I finished Mary Stewart’s A Walk in Wolf Wood, which Mom read to me when I was but a wee lassie and which I remembered really enjoying without remembering any of the details, but upon reread it is blazingly obvious that this book went directly to my giddy young id.

It begins with a man walking into the woods, weeping so hard that he barely seems aware of his surroundings - this is the kind of quality crying I want from my books! - and it only gets better from there. The weeping man has been sundered from his lord the duke to whom he swore a blood oath of brotherhood in their youth! They have been ripped apart by a foul enchantment that has made the weeping man a werewolf, while the enchanter takes his place in the castle and schemes to usurp the duke’s place!

There is definitely a scene where the werewolf lies at his lord’s feet in chains, waiting for the sun to rise so he’ll be changed back into a human being. The duke covers him with his ermine cloak so he won’t be totally naked when that happens. THE LOYALTY KINK. BE STILL MY BEATING HEART.

I also finished Gary Paulsen’s The Island, a quiet and thoughtful book that regularly surprised me, not perhaps because it’s so surprising in itself as because I was reading it as a Misfit Escapes Society and Finds Meaning Elsewhere book - possibly with a side order of But Then Meddlesome Humanity Destroys His Happiness and Solitude. I fully expected the media or the locals or the psychiatrist Wil’s parents hire to hound him off his happy island abode.

But in fact they come and poke around and decide this is all pretty stellar, really (except for the local dude Wil has to punch in the nose, but he’s a real bottom-feeder anyway) and, their curiosity satisfied, leave him alone. And Wil isn’t even a misfit in the first place, really; he’s about as normal as it is possible to be and still run away to an island to try to absorb the essential nature of the blue heron.

...which still kind of makes him a weirdo, let’s be real, but that’s the kind of weirdness that will probably get him a professorship someday.

What I’m Reading Now

I finished Tolkien’s translation of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”! So I’m taking a small breather before diving into the next poem in this collection, “The Pearl.” I quite liked Gawain, but I’d read that story before in prose, whereas I haven’t read “The Pearl” (although Humphrey Carpenter discussed it at some length in his biography of Tolkien, so I know what happens), so I’m curious to see if that affects how I react to it.

I’m also reading Lorna Barrett’s Murder is Binding, a cozy mystery lent to me by a friend. I started this with some trepidation because I don’t usually like cozies - I think the inherent silliness of a cake baker! or bookseller! or librarian! or whatever who just sort of accidentally solves murders on the side gets to me - but actually this one seems tentatively fun. The heroine has a difficult relationship with her sister which they are trying to repair, which seems promising.

What I Plan to Read Next

I have to come up with a book about current events for next month’s reading challenge. This is my least favorite challenge on the list, but nonetheless I will persevere. Any suggestions?

Comments

[littlerhymes]

Oh my gosh, A Walk In Wolf Wood is so iddy. Hilariously so!

How does anyone find time to read books about current events? Isn't everyone catching up on their neverending to-be-read lists, dating back ten years at least?

[osprey_archer]

Mary Stewart's books are a glorious festival of idtasticness. The Moon-spinners has cuddling for warmth; Touch Not the Cat is telepathic soulbonds; I have not read the Merlin trilogy yet but I can only assume it is wall-to-wall loyalty kink all the time, I really should get on that.

I guess you have to prioritize books about current events if you plan to read them? It wouldn't do much good to read them 10 years after the fact, after all, whereas fiction can wait more or less indefinitely.

[littlerhymes]

I have read the Merlin trilogy but it was many years ago. Perhaps I should re-examine it for loyalty kink. But can it possibly live up to A Walk In Wolf Wood? I contemplated requesting that for Yuletide once or twice. Maybe it's time again.

That is a much too sensible approach! I think I will leave the reading of current events books to you and instead stare mournfully at books I purchased years ago with the best of intentions...

[osprey_archer]

Oooooh, Walk in Wolf Wood fic. Would it focus on Mardian's ~wolf angst? Or the slow decay of the Otho/Mardian relationship before Mardian was turned into a werewolf? Something about the evil enchanter eyeing them jealously?

[littlerhymes]

My needs are simple: werewolf angst with a happy ending. L O L. I am who I am!

[sovay]

There is definitely a scene where the werewolf lies at his lord’s feet in chains, waiting for the sun to rise so he’ll be changed back into a human being. The duke covers him with his ermine cloak so he won’t be totally naked when that happens.

Well, I have no idea why I haven't read that.

[osprey_archer]

It is exactly as glorious as it sounds.

[sovay]

It is exactly as glorious as it sounds.

I've read almost everything else by Mary Stewart, too. I shall ask my mother about this one the next time I'm at her house.

[evelyn_b]

Do the events have to be current now? Could you read, say, The Poems of Catullus, which is all about how Catullus' friends are currently making asses of themselves - ok, that's cheating, but how current do they have to be to count? Ta-Nehisi Coates is good on the inextricably of the past and present, but maybe that's too obvious (and it's been a couple years since his book came out, if that matters). If I see anything that looks promising, I'll let you know!

The inherent silliness of the cozy hobbyist who just happens to have to keep solving murders is deeply appealing to me. . .but it's a tricky writing challenge that a lot of people aren't up to. You have to make it plausible, but not too plausible. I hope this one turns out to be good!

[osprey_archer]

Wellllll, I think probably it has to be more current than Catullus. In a different year, I would definitely say that something a couple of years old would count (especially as I've vaguely been meaning to read Ta-Nehisi Coates) - but I feel like Trump's election changed everything so much that maybe it really ought to be something published after that/in response to that.

I hear Elizabeth Warren has a book out. Maybe that should be my current events book.

[evelyn_b]

Fair enough about Catullus and the dividing line of the Trumpster fire.

What's Elizabeth Warren's book about?

[osprey_archer]

Refocusing on the progressive agenda, I think. Possibly also fighting Trump?

I am hoping that it's mostly about progressive politics and not very much about Trump because just reading about him is so stressful.

[evelyn_b]

For me too :|

I hope it's a good book!

[ladyherenya]

I've read nearly everything else of Mary Stewart's except A Walk in Wolf Wood. It was grouped with The Little Broomstick as "for younger readers" and I was disappointed with The Little Broomstick. But sounds like I should read it!

[osprey_archer]

I hear The Little Broomstick is getting a Studio Ghibli adaptation, so I want to read it at some point, but I will lower my expectations accordingly.

[brigdh]

It's Bisclavret! But without the parts about the wife, which is clearly an improvement. I've read some books by Mary Stewart that I enjoyed, but I will totally have to seek this one out.

[osprey_archer]

Mary Stewart can be a bit hit or miss for me, simply because her books are so iddy that they don't always work if my id doesn't align. But when it does, oh my goodness.