Wednesday Reading Meme
Apr. 3rd, 2019 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Gabrielle Moss’s Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of ‘80s and ‘90s Teen Fiction is everything that I wanted Carolyn Carpan’s Sisters, Schoolgirls, and Sleuths to be: readable, fast-moving, funny, and aware of its inevitable incompleteness. There were simply too many books for teen girls published in the 80s and 90s for a single book to encompass them all, and Moss aims to map out the rough outlines of the territory while acknowledging that she does not, and could not possibly, mention every single book.
There were times when I wished her discussions of individual books were more in depth. For instance, she clearly adores Sweet Valley High, and mentions of it are threaded throughout the book, but she doesn’t get to delve deeply into any of the individual stories. But that would probably be more well-suited to a blog than a book in any case: a book has limited space, while a blog can go on and on with long entries for every single Sweet Valley book if the author wants.
What I’m Reading Now
I expected Ethel Cook Eliot’s Green Doors to be a book about fairies and childhood wonder, like her books The Wind Boy and The House in the Fairy Wood, but it is very much not. So far it seems to be… a romance, maybe? Certainly it’s about adults rather than children, although I suppose fairies might still show up. Will report back once I’m farther in the book.
I’m also reading Elizabeth Wein’s A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II is 1000% up my alley and the only problem with it is that no one has yet optioned it to adapt into a thrilling miniseries. Alternatively: Marina Raskova’s life would make an amazing biopic. Netflix! Are you listening?
Well, I do also feel that sometimes the writing is a little more simplified than the teen audience warrants, but this is a minor flaw outweighed by the sheer preponderance of heroic airwomen and also occasional silly shenanigans, like Lilya Litvak’s insistence on carrying a tiny posy on the dashboard of her plane as she flies combat missions. You do you, Lilya!
And I’ve begun Kay Armatage’s The Girl from God’s Country: Nell Shipman and the Silent Cinema, which is about actress/director Nell Shipman. It’s full of useful tidbits about the silent film industry. Did you know that in the early days people sold their film reels to distributors on 14th Street in New York for ten cents a foot? You’d just walk down the street with your reel under your arm till you found someone who’d buy.
What I Plan to Read Next
I meant to read Andrea Cheng’s final Anna Wang book, The Year of the Garden, but it’s been so busy at the library that I haven’t yet. (This also prevented me from getting any farther in Annie Barrows’ Nothing.) Next week!
Gabrielle Moss’s Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of ‘80s and ‘90s Teen Fiction is everything that I wanted Carolyn Carpan’s Sisters, Schoolgirls, and Sleuths to be: readable, fast-moving, funny, and aware of its inevitable incompleteness. There were simply too many books for teen girls published in the 80s and 90s for a single book to encompass them all, and Moss aims to map out the rough outlines of the territory while acknowledging that she does not, and could not possibly, mention every single book.
There were times when I wished her discussions of individual books were more in depth. For instance, she clearly adores Sweet Valley High, and mentions of it are threaded throughout the book, but she doesn’t get to delve deeply into any of the individual stories. But that would probably be more well-suited to a blog than a book in any case: a book has limited space, while a blog can go on and on with long entries for every single Sweet Valley book if the author wants.
What I’m Reading Now
I expected Ethel Cook Eliot’s Green Doors to be a book about fairies and childhood wonder, like her books The Wind Boy and The House in the Fairy Wood, but it is very much not. So far it seems to be… a romance, maybe? Certainly it’s about adults rather than children, although I suppose fairies might still show up. Will report back once I’m farther in the book.
I’m also reading Elizabeth Wein’s A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II is 1000% up my alley and the only problem with it is that no one has yet optioned it to adapt into a thrilling miniseries. Alternatively: Marina Raskova’s life would make an amazing biopic. Netflix! Are you listening?
Well, I do also feel that sometimes the writing is a little more simplified than the teen audience warrants, but this is a minor flaw outweighed by the sheer preponderance of heroic airwomen and also occasional silly shenanigans, like Lilya Litvak’s insistence on carrying a tiny posy on the dashboard of her plane as she flies combat missions. You do you, Lilya!
And I’ve begun Kay Armatage’s The Girl from God’s Country: Nell Shipman and the Silent Cinema, which is about actress/director Nell Shipman. It’s full of useful tidbits about the silent film industry. Did you know that in the early days people sold their film reels to distributors on 14th Street in New York for ten cents a foot? You’d just walk down the street with your reel under your arm till you found someone who’d buy.
What I Plan to Read Next
I meant to read Andrea Cheng’s final Anna Wang book, The Year of the Garden, but it’s been so busy at the library that I haven’t yet. (This also prevented me from getting any farther in Annie Barrows’ Nothing.) Next week!
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Date: 2019-04-03 03:47 pm (UTC)OH thanks for reminding me I totally wanted to get that!
Kay Armatage’s The Girl from God’s Country: Nell Shipman and the Silent Cinema, which is about actress/director Nell Shipman
....oooh.
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Date: 2019-04-04 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 11:54 pm (UTC)I wished that the book included more about Cooney, but she wrote SO many books that I can see why Moss zeroed in on just her most popular series. Otherwise her work could easily fill a book in itself.
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Date: 2019-04-04 08:03 pm (UTC)I saw this book at the library, and thought it looked interesting!
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Date: 2019-04-04 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 11:52 pm (UTC)Another fun fact I learned from the book: in the early 80s, Yevgeniya Zhigulenko (who had been one of the pilots) made a film about the all-women bomber regiment, Night Witches in the Sky. Amazon has it available for rental and I'm 100% planning to watch it during my Soviet month in May.
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Date: 2019-04-06 06:19 am (UTC)I'm a bit amused that you were too busy to read more of a book called Nothing.
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Date: 2019-04-06 04:28 pm (UTC)I've also discovered that one of the pilots, Yevgeniya Zhigulenko, went on to direct a film (Night Witches in the Sky) about the women pilots' experiences during the war, so even if there's never a modern adaptation of A Thousand Sisters, I can at least watch that.