Recent reading

[luzula]

The advantages of traveling: long uninterrupted stretches of reading time. ♥

To the Chapel Perilous by Naomi Mitchison
I've loved the two previous Mitchison books I've read, but this one didn't work for me and I didn't finish it. The premise was interesting: it's the Arthurian mythos except told from the POV of journalists from rival newspapers who support different factions. But it felt like it sort of came at me sideways and I could just not grasp it or enjoy it. Ah well. Mitchison has written a wide variety of themes and styles; perhaps it's not surprising that it doesn't all work for me.

The Grey Horse by R. A. MacAvoy
Recced by sineala. This was charming! The cover made me suspicious (it has a romance novel vibe, and I'm usually not into romance novels) but then it started with 50 pages from the POV of a 70-year-old man, and I was reassured that it was not your typical romance novel. It's down-to-earth fantasy set in Ireland at the turn of the previous century, and I enjoyed the setting and characters. It's well written, too, and has a sort of comfort reading vibe.

Living Alone by Stella Benson
Recced by rushthatspeaks. Since this is a British book about witches and female emancipation written in the 1920's, I can't help but compare it to Lolly Willowes, which I loved. But this didn't work for me, possibly because it has a satirical edge towards its own time which felt too far away for me. Or maybe it's a style issue. May work better for someone else; I didn't finish it.

Tapirskrift by Rasmus Fleischer [Tapir Writings]
Oh, how wonderful! The author is a Swedish historian and political activist, and "tapir" is an anagram of "pirat"--he was involved in the circles that started the Pirate Bay in the early 00's. The book is about the internet, capitalism, crisis, and other interesting topics. I like his style a lot--he doesn't try to prove a point so much as explore topics and possible ways of understanding them. I also like his way of using history to show us the things about the present that we take for granted. Available as a free epub download here. But only in Swedish, alas.

Comments

[oneiriad]

That Naomi Mitchison book sounds like a premise that could have been very entertaining. Pity it apparently isn't.

So far I've read four of her books - one fantasy, two sf and a historical novel - and I am beginning to suspect that I started with the best two. I mean, neither "Solution Three" nor "The Oath-takers" are bad novels by any stretch, but they are weak by comparison. But I still want to read more of her work. As I understand it, there's a couple of short story collections out there - hmmm...

[luzula]

Well, it may just have been a mismatch between the book and me? It's not like it was a bad book. And yeah, I want to read more of her work, too--I've already obtained The Corn King and the Spring Queen.

[skygiants]

...I respect your review but I am nonetheless going to have to read that Naomi Mitchison book because WHAT A PREMISE, omg

[luzula]

Well, it may just have been a mismatch between the book and me? It's not like it was a bad book. I'd be interested to hear if it works for you. : )

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

The Tapir Writings -- not in English, alas indeed. That sounds like a book I would have wanted on the shelf at my library (not sure if you know this about me : I'm a Collection Management Librarian in the non-fiction department at a public library).

[luzula]

I did not know that, no! It sounds like an interesting job.

The book also had downsides, though I was happy enough with the upsides that I didn't mention them--it was too heavy on theory in the later parts that were not about the internet.