Wednesday Reading Meme
Jul. 7th, 2021 07:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
I’ve been having such a good time planning my New York trip (planned for October! If I can convince myself it isn’t Tempting Fate to buy tickets!) that it occurred to me to get an Indianapolis guidebook and plan some sightseeing closer to home, too. So I borrowed Ashley Petry’s Secret Indianapolis: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, and long story short, I’ve now signed up for a sailing course in August.
I also finished Gary Paulsen’s Dogsong, a classic Paulsen “boy abandons civilization for the wilderness” book, with the twist that this time the boy is Inuit and he heads out into the wilderness with his dogs. I personally would probably die if I abandoned civilization for the wilderness, but Paulsen makes it sound so appealing that every time I read one of his books I am briefly tempted. Not appealing in the sense that it sounds pleasant or fun; appealing because it sounds elemental and intense and real, if sometimes really horrible. It’s very much that Jon Krakauer Into the Wild feeling.
What I’m Reading Now
Continuing on in Tom Brown’s School Days! The headmaster (yes, this book is absolutely Thomas Hughes’ RPF of his former headmaster Thomas Arnold) has decided that it would be the making of Tom to be put in charge of a new student, presumably on the same theory that one might give a hardened criminal a puppy. The new student, George Arthur, is a frail, sensitive lad, so petrified at finding himself adrift in an English public school that he can barely even speak (the most relatable character in this book tbh), and if I were Thomas Arnold I would be afraid that Tom Brown would eat the child alive, but apparently Arnold is wiser than I because so far the cure seems to be working.
What I Plan to Read Next
All of my digital holds have come in at once at the library! It’s quite a problem!
I’ve been having such a good time planning my New York trip (planned for October! If I can convince myself it isn’t Tempting Fate to buy tickets!) that it occurred to me to get an Indianapolis guidebook and plan some sightseeing closer to home, too. So I borrowed Ashley Petry’s Secret Indianapolis: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, and long story short, I’ve now signed up for a sailing course in August.
I also finished Gary Paulsen’s Dogsong, a classic Paulsen “boy abandons civilization for the wilderness” book, with the twist that this time the boy is Inuit and he heads out into the wilderness with his dogs. I personally would probably die if I abandoned civilization for the wilderness, but Paulsen makes it sound so appealing that every time I read one of his books I am briefly tempted. Not appealing in the sense that it sounds pleasant or fun; appealing because it sounds elemental and intense and real, if sometimes really horrible. It’s very much that Jon Krakauer Into the Wild feeling.
What I’m Reading Now
Continuing on in Tom Brown’s School Days! The headmaster (yes, this book is absolutely Thomas Hughes’ RPF of his former headmaster Thomas Arnold) has decided that it would be the making of Tom to be put in charge of a new student, presumably on the same theory that one might give a hardened criminal a puppy. The new student, George Arthur, is a frail, sensitive lad, so petrified at finding himself adrift in an English public school that he can barely even speak (the most relatable character in this book tbh), and if I were Thomas Arnold I would be afraid that Tom Brown would eat the child alive, but apparently Arnold is wiser than I because so far the cure seems to be working.
What I Plan to Read Next
All of my digital holds have come in at once at the library! It’s quite a problem!
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Date: 2021-07-07 12:12 pm (UTC)Ooh, fun!
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Date: 2021-07-07 05:16 pm (UTC)...and even if it isn't, it might end with, like, a book about pirates, so that's still fun in its own way.
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Date: 2021-07-07 08:00 pm (UTC)(Speaking of pirates, my summer plans include a pirate-themed tabletop rpg campaign, starting this weekend. I will probably post about it!)
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Date: 2021-07-07 09:02 pm (UTC)(Having said this, I'm not sure these classes are the right kind of sailing ship for pirates. However, no matter what kind of ship it is I can undoubtedly use it SOMEHOW.)
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Date: 2021-07-08 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 01:32 pm (UTC)TBH Tom would probably eat a pet bunny, so it's just as well the headmaster gave him a boy instead.