Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Unread Book Club update: Last Wednesday I finished Gildaen, as I didn’t want to leave it hanging when I went away to Miami. If you looking for a fun magical cod-medieval adventure starring a rabbit, I quite recommend it.

While I was in Miami I read A LOT because there were a couple of days when we were more or less trapped inside by thunderstorms, but most of it was NetGalley books which I like to give their own separate post (I finished… five…) and also When Marnie Was There which I also want to give its own separate post because I liked it so much, AND ALSO I still need to review Megan Whalen Turner’s Thick as Thieves which I read before the trip and - say it with me now - wanted to give its own post because I enjoyed it so much…

Oh, but I did read E. W. Hornung’s Mr. Justice Raffles on the trip! Which is the fourth and final Raffles book, a novel rather than a set of short stories like the others, which I thought might be why it often gets shunted to the side in Raffles discussions - perhaps Hornung just wasn’t good at novels?

But actually he does perfectly fine at novels; Bunny and Raffles are in as fine a fettle as ever, and there’s also a totally badass girl who engages in plucky pre-dawn canoeing. But the villain is a Jewish moneylender, and while he does not reach Svengali levels of anti-Semitic caricature, there’s definitely enough of that about his characterization to justify the fact that the book is generally shunted aside.

What I’m Reading Now

Sherwood Smith’s Fair Winds and Homeward Sail: Sophy Croft’s Story, which is the story of a side character from Jane Austen’s Persuasion and quite charming. I really like all of Smith’s Regency romances: her pastiche is good, and you can tell that she knows the period really well because she wears her research so lightly - especially impressive in a book like this, which is stuffed chock full of characters in the navy and could easily bog down in infodumps about naval terminology.

I’ve also started reading Elizabeth Warren’s This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America’s Middle Class (for my reading challenge: “a book of any genre that addresses current events”), which is good so far but also sort of a bummer to read because I know that as long as Trump is president and the Republicans control Congress we’re not going to make progress toward any of these goals; we will at best be fighting a holding action, if we can manage that.

What I Plan to Read Next

Angela Thirkell’s The Brandons. If only I’d taken it to Miami with me! Oh well.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

If you looking for a fun magical cod-medieval adventure starring a rabbit, I quite recommend it.

Somewhat of a niche genre, though... ;-)

I really like all of Smith’s Regency romances: her pastiche is good, and you can tell that she knows the period really well because she wears her research so lightly

I'll have to look out for her. But I've grown cynical through reading Regencies and I shall not be willing to believe in one without Carolyns until I see it...

[osprey_archer]

No Carolyns at all! All the names are straight out of Jane Austen, I believe.

[evelyn_b]

If you're looking for a fun magical cod-medieval adventure starring a rabbit, I quite recommend it.

Ooo. . . I wasn't really, but that does sound like fun. And so does Sofy Croft's story!

[osprey_archer]

I suppose "fun magical cod-medieval adventures starring a rabbit" is such a niche genre that you probably don't get people looking for it really. Think of the frustration! This might be the only one out there.

[evelyn_b]

Hm. Watership Down stars rabbits and is one kind of fun, but I don't think it's cod-medieval or magical. It's been a long time.

The Redwall books are cod-medieval and star a range of small-to-medium European mammals, including rabbits (I think?) but I've never read any of them.

. . . and that's all I've got. Definitely niche! Though I wouldn't be enormously shocked if there turned out to be more.

[osprey_archer]

Oooooh. I had forgotten Redwall! I read a number of them and yes, there are indeed rabbits, who talk in an upper-class English accent, what ho, and also have lots of lovely food descriptions, although I only read a certain number before I drifted away from the series because they do tend to all run together.

I'm not sure that anything magical happens aside from the existence of all these talking animals though. Or no, wait, the abbey's legendary founder Martin the Warrior sometimes shows up in visions and stuff,. So there's that!

[silverusagi]

which is good so far but also sort of a bummer to read because I know that as long as Trump is president and the Republicans control Congress we’re not going to make progress toward any of these goal

Pretty much why I haven't read it, despite liking what I hear from Elizabeth Warren.

[osprey_archer]

Yeah. I sort of need to psychologically gird myself before I pick it up, because she seems so sensible and yet I know that we're not going to get any of these sensible things through congress for ages, if ever, and it's so frustrating.

[kore]

I read the Warren book too -- I found it less depressing as I went on, probably because she is such a fighter. The very end was quite moving.

[osprey_archer]

Hopefully I will feel the same way when I get to the end of the book too. Nothing for it but to just keep going!

[ladyherenya]

I have asked my library to get Fair Winds and Homeward Sail, because that sounds like something I'd like.

Also, I'm reassured to hear you enjoyed Thick of Thieves - I've been avoiding any reference to it online because I don't want to see spoilers, but this means I have no idea whether others have liked it or not. I'm hoping to read it this weekend.

[osprey_archer]

I hope you like it when you read it! I ended up buying it rather than waiting for the library to get it because I was tired of avoiding the spoilery discussions. Much better to have read it to so I could bond with fellow readers.