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Recently read books
Jan. 11th, 2014 07:05 pmLifelode, by Jo Walton
Jo Waaaalton. ♥ I fangirl her so hard. I've had this lying around for a while, but since I know she's got a new book coming out soon, I let myself read this. And I loved it! It's a warm and domestic book with interesting poly dynamics, which made me slightly melancholy even as it warmed me (the melancholy being due to my own poly relationship which ended). The narration jumped around in time a lot, but was never confusing to me. The book reminded me of Le Guin in her most domestic Hainish short stories. Also, I thought the magic system was really interesting.
Snow, by Orhan Pamuk (originally in Turkish, read in Swedish)
My sister's boyfriend and I both read a lot, but we have different reading habits--he mostly reads the literary mainstream canon, I read mostly SF/F. So we decided to each pick out a book for the other to read: I picked Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness, he picked this one (ha, they are both about snow and politics and love, now that I think about it). I had mixed feelings about this book. The way it satirizes all political movements in Turkey made it hard for me to understand any of them (apparently this book upset all political camps). Sometimes I did break through and feel a connection, but I think my lasting impression is confusion and melancholy distance--which, okay, is probably also because the main character feels this. Also, sometimes I wanted to shake the main character for his attitudes toward women. *sigh* I really liked the storytelling technique, though, where it's not actually the main character who tells the story, but his friend (who is called Orhan, like the author) who comes after him and tries to understand his life and his poetry. This is in the background most of the time, but I like the sense of unreliable narrator it gave. Anyway, I look forward to discussing the book with my sister's boyfriend!
I've also been reading Sara Granér, another feminist/leftist Swedish comic book artist. And obviously tons of holiday fic, but I don't have the energy for reccing any right now.
Jo Waaaalton. ♥ I fangirl her so hard. I've had this lying around for a while, but since I know she's got a new book coming out soon, I let myself read this. And I loved it! It's a warm and domestic book with interesting poly dynamics, which made me slightly melancholy even as it warmed me (the melancholy being due to my own poly relationship which ended). The narration jumped around in time a lot, but was never confusing to me. The book reminded me of Le Guin in her most domestic Hainish short stories. Also, I thought the magic system was really interesting.
Snow, by Orhan Pamuk (originally in Turkish, read in Swedish)
My sister's boyfriend and I both read a lot, but we have different reading habits--he mostly reads the literary mainstream canon, I read mostly SF/F. So we decided to each pick out a book for the other to read: I picked Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness, he picked this one (ha, they are both about snow and politics and love, now that I think about it). I had mixed feelings about this book. The way it satirizes all political movements in Turkey made it hard for me to understand any of them (apparently this book upset all political camps). Sometimes I did break through and feel a connection, but I think my lasting impression is confusion and melancholy distance--which, okay, is probably also because the main character feels this. Also, sometimes I wanted to shake the main character for his attitudes toward women. *sigh* I really liked the storytelling technique, though, where it's not actually the main character who tells the story, but his friend (who is called Orhan, like the author) who comes after him and tries to understand his life and his poetry. This is in the background most of the time, but I like the sense of unreliable narrator it gave. Anyway, I look forward to discussing the book with my sister's boyfriend!
I've also been reading Sara Granér, another feminist/leftist Swedish comic book artist. And obviously tons of holiday fic, but I don't have the energy for reccing any right now.
