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Recent reading
Jun. 4th, 2024 03:39 pmThe Stone Book Quartet by Alan Garner (1978)
My last bookshelf book before all my books were packed away in boxes! I admit I chose this one because I was tired, and it had very large print and was a children's book (of sorts). I liked it--it's a contemplative historical book, with vignettes of four children of different generations of the same family, separated in time. The focus, as far as I can tell, is craftsmanship, in stone and metal: discovering what one has a talent for, what one learns after long experience, what elders can teach (or not teach) to children.
Hornblower and the Atropos by C S Forester (1953)
And now begins the Summer of Ebooks! I want to read self-indulgent things for a while, as a reward for the work of moving. First out, my next Hornblower: it can be such a comfort to read the next book in a series where one already knows the characters and what one is likely to get. In this instance, exciting naval adventure--this one is pure Hornblower, in a way, with no slashiness, just the page-turney anticipation of finding out how he's going to solve the latest difficulty. I do wish the author had assured us that those Ceylonese divers were well paid, though. I fear they were not.
During packing I also reread my shelf copy of my own fic If Fate Should Reverse Our Positions. I can't say it's my best fic ever, since there are so many different aspects of writing, but it's certainly the best plotting I've ever done. Very proud of that. And it's good to be able to enjoy my own fic so much on reread, too! I was however annoyed by small editing issues, such as "hmm, I see I was still using that word which I later learned was inappropriate for the period", or "arrgh, I wish I'd used contractions a little more in dialogue". But I think constantly going back to edit would have ruined the reading experience, so I didn't.
Let me also recommend the Yuletide fic A Winter Wood Warming (9272 words) by Terrantalen, which is fic for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, with Emma Pole/Arabella Strange. Very well written epistolary/documentary style fic.
My last bookshelf book before all my books were packed away in boxes! I admit I chose this one because I was tired, and it had very large print and was a children's book (of sorts). I liked it--it's a contemplative historical book, with vignettes of four children of different generations of the same family, separated in time. The focus, as far as I can tell, is craftsmanship, in stone and metal: discovering what one has a talent for, what one learns after long experience, what elders can teach (or not teach) to children.
Hornblower and the Atropos by C S Forester (1953)
And now begins the Summer of Ebooks! I want to read self-indulgent things for a while, as a reward for the work of moving. First out, my next Hornblower: it can be such a comfort to read the next book in a series where one already knows the characters and what one is likely to get. In this instance, exciting naval adventure--this one is pure Hornblower, in a way, with no slashiness, just the page-turney anticipation of finding out how he's going to solve the latest difficulty. I do wish the author had assured us that those Ceylonese divers were well paid, though. I fear they were not.
During packing I also reread my shelf copy of my own fic If Fate Should Reverse Our Positions. I can't say it's my best fic ever, since there are so many different aspects of writing, but it's certainly the best plotting I've ever done. Very proud of that. And it's good to be able to enjoy my own fic so much on reread, too! I was however annoyed by small editing issues, such as "hmm, I see I was still using that word which I later learned was inappropriate for the period", or "arrgh, I wish I'd used contractions a little more in dialogue". But I think constantly going back to edit would have ruined the reading experience, so I didn't.
Let me also recommend the Yuletide fic A Winter Wood Warming (9272 words) by Terrantalen, which is fic for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, with Emma Pole/Arabella Strange. Very well written epistolary/documentary style fic.
