Wednesday Reading Meme
Mar. 30th, 2022 07:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
I read the latest Baby-sitters Club graphic novel, Good-bye Stacey, Goodbye, and in further Baby-sitters Club news, I am devastated to inform you that Netflix has canceled the series after a mere two seasons. Why, Netflix, why???
I also read Ann Patchett’s new essay collection These Precious Days, which really hit it out of the park. Patchett writes so movingly about friendship, which American culture generally gives short shrift in favor or romance; the standout essay of the collection is perhaps the titular “These Precious Days,” about her friendship with Sookie Raphael (honestly it says everything that I even liked this essay, because it’s about Sookie getting cancer and I usually HATE cancer stories).
But she also writes beautifully about romance (as in “Flight Plan,” her essay about her husband’s flying hobby), and family - like “Three Fathers,” about her father, stepfather, and her mother’s third husband (married after Patchett was grown, so not exactly a father figure), which is written with both love and a clear-eyed vision about the men’s foibles, and writing, and… okay, really everything that she writes about. I haven’t enjoyed an essay collection so much since Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris. Highly recommended!
What I’m Reading Now
I decided to bite the bullet and read the very first Newbery Medal winner, Hendrik van Loon’s The Story of Mankind, which I expected to be extremely dated and dull. I am pleased to inform you that only one of these two things is accurate! It IS extremely dated, by which I mean Eurocentric, by which I mean that van Loon informs the reader that “the wild barbarians of western Europe” are “our own ancestors.”
But it isn’t dull. It’s a long book, but it has extremely short chapters, so we have moved at a breathless clip through the first appearance of living cells on this earth, dinosaurs and mammals, Paleolithic Man, ancient Egypt, Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt, the Sumerians, ancient Greece, and Alexander the Great conquering everything. Right now, Rome is destroying Carthage and salting the earth!
What I Plan to Read Next
I’ve decided it’s time to read down my pile of unread books! Both in the form of physical books on my unread bookshelf, and books that have waited long and patiently on my Kindle!
Unfortunately, I was unable to resist getting James Herriot's All Things Bright and Beautiful from the library, so as you can see I'm having some difficulty settling down to fulfill this vow.
I read the latest Baby-sitters Club graphic novel, Good-bye Stacey, Goodbye, and in further Baby-sitters Club news, I am devastated to inform you that Netflix has canceled the series after a mere two seasons. Why, Netflix, why???
I also read Ann Patchett’s new essay collection These Precious Days, which really hit it out of the park. Patchett writes so movingly about friendship, which American culture generally gives short shrift in favor or romance; the standout essay of the collection is perhaps the titular “These Precious Days,” about her friendship with Sookie Raphael (honestly it says everything that I even liked this essay, because it’s about Sookie getting cancer and I usually HATE cancer stories).
But she also writes beautifully about romance (as in “Flight Plan,” her essay about her husband’s flying hobby), and family - like “Three Fathers,” about her father, stepfather, and her mother’s third husband (married after Patchett was grown, so not exactly a father figure), which is written with both love and a clear-eyed vision about the men’s foibles, and writing, and… okay, really everything that she writes about. I haven’t enjoyed an essay collection so much since Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris. Highly recommended!
What I’m Reading Now
I decided to bite the bullet and read the very first Newbery Medal winner, Hendrik van Loon’s The Story of Mankind, which I expected to be extremely dated and dull. I am pleased to inform you that only one of these two things is accurate! It IS extremely dated, by which I mean Eurocentric, by which I mean that van Loon informs the reader that “the wild barbarians of western Europe” are “our own ancestors.”
But it isn’t dull. It’s a long book, but it has extremely short chapters, so we have moved at a breathless clip through the first appearance of living cells on this earth, dinosaurs and mammals, Paleolithic Man, ancient Egypt, Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt, the Sumerians, ancient Greece, and Alexander the Great conquering everything. Right now, Rome is destroying Carthage and salting the earth!
What I Plan to Read Next
I’ve decided it’s time to read down my pile of unread books! Both in the form of physical books on my unread bookshelf, and books that have waited long and patiently on my Kindle!
Unfortunately, I was unable to resist getting James Herriot's All Things Bright and Beautiful from the library, so as you can see I'm having some difficulty settling down to fulfill this vow.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-31 08:14 am (UTC)A tragedy that could not have been foreseen: avid reader distracted from books already bought/borrowed by shiny new acquisition!
Also James Herriot is very claming reading, so I don't blame you.
Sorry about the Babysitters show - cancellation of good things is always so frustrating!
(Btw, have you seen the BBC adaptation of Malory Towers? They've done two series of it so far and it's really sweet.)
no subject
Date: 2022-03-31 12:57 pm (UTC)The BBC adaptation of Malory Towers is on a streaming platform I don't have, and I am TRYING to keep my number of streaming platforms under control... but I'll probably break down and get it eventually just so I can watch Malory Towers.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-31 04:54 pm (UTC)This frankly seems like a terrible plan for the long-term health of the service, and it's gotten quite a bit of (deserved) blowback, so it'll be interesting to see if they stick to it or moderate their stance somewhat as the number of potential new sign-ups dwindles.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-31 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-31 07:32 pm (UTC)I never sit down to read books of essays, even though I often enjoy essays. I'm musing on this now.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-01 12:21 am (UTC)