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auroracloudTime for our non-regular weekly book babble!
The last book(s) I read
The last thing I finished was a Finnish YA historical fantasy novel, which was lifted somewhat above mediocrity by its delightful portrayal of its setting, both the time and the place. Too bad the characters and the writing weren't equally engaging, but I might be curious enough to pick up the sequel once I've had some distance from this one.
I feel like I can hardly read a novel in my native language without bitching about it. Why, whyyyy don't people here write novels the way I like them? Either it's supremely depressing and sort of... so busy posing as Serious Literature that it fails to be engaging at all (well, to me), or it's commercial/genre fiction and apparently those don't have to be good quality books. And sometimes books manage to be both! I do find stuff to read in Finnish that I utterly love, but it's often something other than novels - non-fiction, short stories, poetry, travel writing, things that straddle the border between fiction and non-fiction. Or sometimes, translations, but I usually read English books in English, and from non-English languages they rarely translate the kind of books I'm into. Even if they translate genre literature, it's the too-depressing kind. Oh well, I should probably get around to reading some of that translated Chinese SFF before I complain more.
Anyway, enough about that. Else I'll be writing about my relationship with my country's literature for the rest of the evening. The last thing I read before that book was Emily Tesh's novella Silver In the Wood, which I adored. It's a beautiful, tender story about the Green Man, his woods, and a young man who falls in love with them. There's folklore, fae, awesome plants, and good supporting characters. It's lyrical and lovely. Can't promise it's everyone's cup of tea, but it absolutely is mine. This is shaping to be another darn good year for novellas.
I've also read parts of history books for fiction research, because I had to take them back to the library so I needed to finally stop ignoring them. Alas, they were the kind of history books that make the era all its people sound unspeakably boring and stuffy, and make me stop wanting to write historical fiction. I probably need to find something different next.
Though I try to remember that even if 99 % of the people were exactly that boring and stuffy, there's got to have been that 1 % who chafe against it and are interesting to write about. Also about 95 % of the people were commoners and poor and mostly illiterate (uh, I'm guessing as to the actual percentage, but I know my country had a very small upper class for most of its history). They sure as heck didn't have time for the kind of stuffiness that may have plagued those people whose memoirs and letters have made it to 20th and 21st century historians and been deemed worthy of writing about.
What I am reading now
I've been listening to the audiobook version of Red, White, and Royal Blue, because audiobook is what my library had and it finally arrived to me. If you haven't happened to hear of this, it's a romance between the (fictional)son of a (fictional( female president of the USA and a (fictional) British prince. The book is every bit as delightful as everyone says it is and I have far too much fun with it, and I never proceed this fast with audiobooks but I do with this one. It's funny, but also has surprising amounts of depth and political content, and is more psychologically astute than I tend to expect of romance novels. (I don't read a lot of them, due to not being into 98 % of the het romance tropes, and my local libraries, though otherwise great, have very little in terms of same-sex romance novels, but I guess this one was popular enough to slip through. Sometimes I buy f/f romance, but I don't have a lot of money to buy books these days.) I'm also very envious of the AU these people live in, when it comes to politics. Just saying.
I've also been reading The Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone, which is very interesting and has lots of extremely kick-ass space lesbians. It's also rather... dense in terms of worldbuilding and such, so although I find it delightful, I usually can't focus on it more than 1-2 chapters at a time. So I've been trying to take lighter books on the side. Now I've also made a start with Alexandra Rowland's A Conspiracy of Truths, which seems very promising.
What I'm Reading Next
No idea, really. I've got several things I want to read, also from my own bookshelf, but by the time I'm done with all three of the above, I'll probably get my plans thrown aside by the arrival of yet another library reservation or three. I need to learn to not make so many reservations at once.
The last book(s) I read
The last thing I finished was a Finnish YA historical fantasy novel, which was lifted somewhat above mediocrity by its delightful portrayal of its setting, both the time and the place. Too bad the characters and the writing weren't equally engaging, but I might be curious enough to pick up the sequel once I've had some distance from this one.
I feel like I can hardly read a novel in my native language without bitching about it. Why, whyyyy don't people here write novels the way I like them? Either it's supremely depressing and sort of... so busy posing as Serious Literature that it fails to be engaging at all (well, to me), or it's commercial/genre fiction and apparently those don't have to be good quality books. And sometimes books manage to be both! I do find stuff to read in Finnish that I utterly love, but it's often something other than novels - non-fiction, short stories, poetry, travel writing, things that straddle the border between fiction and non-fiction. Or sometimes, translations, but I usually read English books in English, and from non-English languages they rarely translate the kind of books I'm into. Even if they translate genre literature, it's the too-depressing kind. Oh well, I should probably get around to reading some of that translated Chinese SFF before I complain more.
Anyway, enough about that. Else I'll be writing about my relationship with my country's literature for the rest of the evening. The last thing I read before that book was Emily Tesh's novella Silver In the Wood, which I adored. It's a beautiful, tender story about the Green Man, his woods, and a young man who falls in love with them. There's folklore, fae, awesome plants, and good supporting characters. It's lyrical and lovely. Can't promise it's everyone's cup of tea, but it absolutely is mine. This is shaping to be another darn good year for novellas.
I've also read parts of history books for fiction research, because I had to take them back to the library so I needed to finally stop ignoring them. Alas, they were the kind of history books that make the era all its people sound unspeakably boring and stuffy, and make me stop wanting to write historical fiction. I probably need to find something different next.
Though I try to remember that even if 99 % of the people were exactly that boring and stuffy, there's got to have been that 1 % who chafe against it and are interesting to write about. Also about 95 % of the people were commoners and poor and mostly illiterate (uh, I'm guessing as to the actual percentage, but I know my country had a very small upper class for most of its history). They sure as heck didn't have time for the kind of stuffiness that may have plagued those people whose memoirs and letters have made it to 20th and 21st century historians and been deemed worthy of writing about.
What I am reading now
I've been listening to the audiobook version of Red, White, and Royal Blue, because audiobook is what my library had and it finally arrived to me. If you haven't happened to hear of this, it's a romance between the (fictional)son of a (fictional( female president of the USA and a (fictional) British prince. The book is every bit as delightful as everyone says it is and I have far too much fun with it, and I never proceed this fast with audiobooks but I do with this one. It's funny, but also has surprising amounts of depth and political content, and is more psychologically astute than I tend to expect of romance novels. (I don't read a lot of them, due to not being into 98 % of the het romance tropes, and my local libraries, though otherwise great, have very little in terms of same-sex romance novels, but I guess this one was popular enough to slip through. Sometimes I buy f/f romance, but I don't have a lot of money to buy books these days.) I'm also very envious of the AU these people live in, when it comes to politics. Just saying.
I've also been reading The Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone, which is very interesting and has lots of extremely kick-ass space lesbians. It's also rather... dense in terms of worldbuilding and such, so although I find it delightful, I usually can't focus on it more than 1-2 chapters at a time. So I've been trying to take lighter books on the side. Now I've also made a start with Alexandra Rowland's A Conspiracy of Truths, which seems very promising.
What I'm Reading Next
No idea, really. I've got several things I want to read, also from my own bookshelf, but by the time I'm done with all three of the above, I'll probably get my plans thrown aside by the arrival of yet another library reservation or three. I need to learn to not make so many reservations at once.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-20 11:48 pm (UTC)I feel you mate, I feel you. The literature that gets published here in NZ doesn't interest me at all, except for a few rare examples. Small country problems! (It's the same with television too.)
A Conspiracy of Truths is also on my TBR. Do you listen to the Be the Serpent podcast? That's how I heard about it.
I have too many holds as well. It happens when I have time to read but by the time the books are available things have changed and I don't have as much time. Fortunately they're ebooks so I don't HAVE to go and pick them up and then return them when I don't read them in time.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-21 07:35 am (UTC)Yeah, our TV doesn't interest me either most of the time. (Especially since there's rarely budget for anything except contemporary realist dramas or comedies, and those rarely do it for me.) Hmm, I hadn't even realized that even English-speaking smaller countries might have the same problem - I kind of thought it had to do with Finnish being a small language that developed literature in the heyday of realism and never let go of that - and probably it partly does - but it does make sense that also the non-major English-speaking nations might have similar problems with their own literature. After all, even if you can get good books written in your language, if they're all either American or British that doesn't mean you're getting anything close to home. Cultural imperialism makes itself known in those cases as well. My sympathies.
Yeees, I listen to Be the Serpent! I started listening to it because it was Hugo nominee this year, and I totally adored it, it's absolutely my jam! I also started listening to Alexandra Rowland's other podcast, Worldbuilding for Masochists - if you haven't listened to it, I recommend it, it's great! Anyway, those podcasts are how I grew interested in it, and then my local library got the book so I could place a hold on it. (I keep forgetting that the English expression is "place a hold" even though the Libby app I've got is in English so I see that expression all the time.)
It happens when I have time to read but by the time the books are available things have changed and I don't have as much time. Fortunately they're ebooks so I don't HAVE to go and pick them up and then return them when I don't read them in time.
Yeah, that's what happens to me, too - they arrive just when I don't have time, or they arrive all at once though I've placed the holds at different times. For me it's a mix of e-books and regular physical books, because I really like physical books when I can get them and our library has plenty. Though more and more new English books, especially in the fiction genres I read, arrive via e-books through Libby
no subject
Date: 2019-11-21 01:20 am (UTC)Ugh, SAAAAAME. It's not even like I'll put a bunch of books on hold at once, but what with the different wait-list lengths for books I put on hold at different times, it seems like I always end up getting a bunch at once. And especially on Libby, where you can track your place in line, once I'm next up, it seems like the person who has it before me always take f o r e v e r to return it!
no subject
Date: 2019-11-21 07:39 am (UTC)Yeeeees, that's exactly what happens to me, too! I've started trying to be careful that I don't have too many holds with similar length waiting lists at once, but it's unpredictable, because sometimes readers will return it sooner than it's due, sometimes not.
And especially on Libby, where you can track your place in line, once I'm next up, it seems like the person who has it before me always take f o r e v e r to return it!
For me, sometimes it's that and sometimes it's "oh, it's still two weeks, I have time to read Book X and Book Y before I get it - - (three hours later) WTF I got it now?" And with Libby I can't even do the thing where I'll allow for a few days worth of fines before I return a book I want to finish - Libby loans just return themselves automatically.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-24 10:28 am (UTC)Heee, the Red/White/Blue thing sounds interesting!
no subject
Date: 2019-12-06 09:40 am (UTC)Red, White, and Royal Blue is super adorable, super geeky and queer and fairly hot and very amusing, and I much recommend it. I'm totally going to have to buy it to have it on hand as a comfort read.
♦
Date: 2019-12-01 09:28 pm (UTC)Re: ♦
Date: 2019-12-06 09:41 am (UTC)Re: ♦
Date: 2019-12-08 10:29 pm (UTC)