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Recent reading
Mar. 11th, 2014 11:56 pmLolly Willowes, or, The Loving Huntsman, by Sylvia Townsend Warner
This is the first time we read a book that I nominated for my bookclub at work. Unfortunately some of the people in the group really dislike SF/F, so I thought I'd kind of sneak in a fantastical element. *g* Anyway, I hadn't read this book before, but I loved it! It's about Laura, an unmarried woman in 1920's Britain who lives with her brother's family and helps bring up his children, but then when she's middle-aged she realizes that she wants to be independent of her relatives and moves out to the country and becomes a witch.
Nnnngh, the language in this book! I love it so much. There's a sly sense of humor, and some vivid and unexpected images, and also lots of nature porn. Sample (Laura thinking about cabbages that are to be eaten by her brother and his wife): "They would shed all their midnight devilry in the pot, and be served up to Henry and Caroline very pure and vegetable."
Must read more of this author. How about Summer Will Show, where "a Victorian wife travels to revolutionary France in 1848 to confront her husband's charismatic mistress, only to fall under the woman's spell herself and be drawn into the Communist struggle." Doesn't that sound delightful? Or The Corner That Held Them, which is about the women in a medieval convent? Must obtain these.
Ring of Swords, by Elizabeth Arnason
I liked this a lot! More than I did the author's A Woman of the Iron People. She seems to be interested in writing alien societies which separate the sexes? This one has aliens who are almost entirely homosexual and view heterosexuality as a perversion. I liked the writing, and the characters are interesting and likeable, too. If you like xeno, you'll probably enjoy this--there's an m/m xeno relationship. There seem to be lots of short stories written in this verse that I'd love to read, but I don't know if they're gathered together anywhere. Anyway, recommended.
This is the first time we read a book that I nominated for my bookclub at work. Unfortunately some of the people in the group really dislike SF/F, so I thought I'd kind of sneak in a fantastical element. *g* Anyway, I hadn't read this book before, but I loved it! It's about Laura, an unmarried woman in 1920's Britain who lives with her brother's family and helps bring up his children, but then when she's middle-aged she realizes that she wants to be independent of her relatives and moves out to the country and becomes a witch.
Nnnngh, the language in this book! I love it so much. There's a sly sense of humor, and some vivid and unexpected images, and also lots of nature porn. Sample (Laura thinking about cabbages that are to be eaten by her brother and his wife): "They would shed all their midnight devilry in the pot, and be served up to Henry and Caroline very pure and vegetable."
Must read more of this author. How about Summer Will Show, where "a Victorian wife travels to revolutionary France in 1848 to confront her husband's charismatic mistress, only to fall under the woman's spell herself and be drawn into the Communist struggle." Doesn't that sound delightful? Or The Corner That Held Them, which is about the women in a medieval convent? Must obtain these.
Ring of Swords, by Elizabeth Arnason
I liked this a lot! More than I did the author's A Woman of the Iron People. She seems to be interested in writing alien societies which separate the sexes? This one has aliens who are almost entirely homosexual and view heterosexuality as a perversion. I liked the writing, and the characters are interesting and likeable, too. If you like xeno, you'll probably enjoy this--there's an m/m xeno relationship. There seem to be lots of short stories written in this verse that I'd love to read, but I don't know if they're gathered together anywhere. Anyway, recommended.
