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Reading Update
Dec. 14th, 2018 11:13 amStill not on Wednesday, because Wednesday I was too sleep-deprived to write and also had a brunch which took much longer than I expected (although the food was delicious).
Recently Finished
A Traveller in Time by Allison Uttley, which is a classic children's novel about time travel that my own child would find painfully boring as Nothing Happens. I am rather fond of books such as this, but I still found it surprising that our protagonist interacts with the past but is really mostly a device for the historical fiction part of the novel rather than a Plucky Heroine trying to save the day or fruitlessly struggling against the inexorable flow of time.
I mentioned Binti by Nnedi Okorafor last week -- it was short and fast-moving and delightful; I love the protagonist and I love meeting a culture I do not know. I liked it a smidge more when it seemed like it might be a college story in space (there's an update to Tam Lin I had not thought of before, not that it needs updating), because I would rather read 500 pages about people meeting each other and sorting out their social relationships and discussing their academic passions than 50 pages of action-adventure, but I realise I am in the minority here, and I loved it anyway.
Also some manga, since yesterday I saw my manga-loaning friend C. (and had a fabulous Christmas tea at a shop near his home) and wanted to return some things to him. Almost none of it was exceptional enough to need mentioning, except...
On the Go
The third volume of Your Name (Shinkai Makoto), when I locate it, because the first two were good and surprising and I am curious how the story is going to go end. C. was surprised I had not heard of the story, as apparently it was a hugely popular animated movie a few years back, but I had not, so I am enjoying it in this form and wanting to find out how it ends.
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing, about art and loneliness and queerness, her own experiences and those of various New York artists, some of whom I had heard of (Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol), and some I had not (David Wojnarowicz). It is thus far fascinating and feels very sustaining -- I do not know how to put that better, but I feel like I am reading something which feeds me. She has a novel out as of this summer, I think I will bump it up my reading list.
Also I am still going on with Eat My Words, hopefully in the home stretch as it ought to go back to the library very soon, but all my reading right now is in the 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there variety, which means dense texts in actual paper book format are thoroughly neglected.
Forthcoming
With only one week left before the children are out of school for 17 days it feels difficult to predict what I will actually read, but I still would like to finish the second & third Binti books, and I have read just the first story in Sonya Taaffe's Forget the Sleepless Shores and I want time to read more, although they are so much like poetry in their prose I cannot go quickly at all, I keep needing to stop and think and feel every few pages.
Now off to volunteer and exchange library books, which is my usual Tuesday but this week was moved to Friday for reasons which I assume will become clear when I see whatever it is we are doing this week.
Recently Finished
A Traveller in Time by Allison Uttley, which is a classic children's novel about time travel that my own child would find painfully boring as Nothing Happens. I am rather fond of books such as this, but I still found it surprising that our protagonist interacts with the past but is really mostly a device for the historical fiction part of the novel rather than a Plucky Heroine trying to save the day or fruitlessly struggling against the inexorable flow of time.
I mentioned Binti by Nnedi Okorafor last week -- it was short and fast-moving and delightful; I love the protagonist and I love meeting a culture I do not know. I liked it a smidge more when it seemed like it might be a college story in space (there's an update to Tam Lin I had not thought of before, not that it needs updating), because I would rather read 500 pages about people meeting each other and sorting out their social relationships and discussing their academic passions than 50 pages of action-adventure, but I realise I am in the minority here, and I loved it anyway.
Also some manga, since yesterday I saw my manga-loaning friend C. (and had a fabulous Christmas tea at a shop near his home) and wanted to return some things to him. Almost none of it was exceptional enough to need mentioning, except...
On the Go
The third volume of Your Name (Shinkai Makoto), when I locate it, because the first two were good and surprising and I am curious how the story is going to go end. C. was surprised I had not heard of the story, as apparently it was a hugely popular animated movie a few years back, but I had not, so I am enjoying it in this form and wanting to find out how it ends.
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing, about art and loneliness and queerness, her own experiences and those of various New York artists, some of whom I had heard of (Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol), and some I had not (David Wojnarowicz). It is thus far fascinating and feels very sustaining -- I do not know how to put that better, but I feel like I am reading something which feeds me. She has a novel out as of this summer, I think I will bump it up my reading list.
Also I am still going on with Eat My Words, hopefully in the home stretch as it ought to go back to the library very soon, but all my reading right now is in the 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there variety, which means dense texts in actual paper book format are thoroughly neglected.
Forthcoming
With only one week left before the children are out of school for 17 days it feels difficult to predict what I will actually read, but I still would like to finish the second & third Binti books, and I have read just the first story in Sonya Taaffe's Forget the Sleepless Shores and I want time to read more, although they are so much like poetry in their prose I cannot go quickly at all, I keep needing to stop and think and feel every few pages.
Now off to volunteer and exchange library books, which is my usual Tuesday but this week was moved to Friday for reasons which I assume will become clear when I see whatever it is we are doing this week.
