Recent reading

[luzula]

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (audiobook)
For book-club-at-work. When we finally decided on an SF book, did it have to be such a depressing one (and also by a mainstream author)? Anyway, it kind of bored me. Yeah, I guess it was good at painting a mood, but nothing really changed throughout the book, so it just felt like one long depressing scene where nothing happened. This meant that it all kind of ran together when listened to as an audiobook. Also, I feel like this is hardly an SF book at all--the setting feels like just a backdrop, and we don't get any understanding of what happened. (Looking at the Goodreads reviews, this seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it book.)

How the mouth changes its shape by breathedout
I'm reviewing this as a book--it's book-length, after all. This is a 1950's femslash Holmes/Watson AU that I feel like everyone was reading a while ago, but I only now got around to it. And wow, I loved it! I was just super caught up in it and couldn't stop reading, and the setting is immersive. I love what the author did with Holmes and Watson, as well as with the supporting characters--I would happily read a whole book about Smithy and Gina and Ted. It's also a very impressive casefic, where I really enjoyed following along in the twists and turns. Also, A+ porn. Recommended!

Comments

[glitteryv]

Yeah, I guess it was good at painting a mood, but nothing really changed throughout the book, so it just felt like one long depressing scene where nothing happened.

The amount of loathing I feel for The Road is something I can't quantify. From what I remember, I read it about a year or so before the movie was going to come out (so that was a year after it was published). There was A LOT of buzz about it, but the reason why totally escapes me. In some ways, reading The Road felt like the equivalent of sitting in a very hot room while drinking lukewarm tea. #DNW I'm thankful, however, that it's a relatively short book.

I can't even imagine what a tedious experience it must have been to listen to it. :|

(BTW, I did liked No Country for Old Men, but I also realized that Conrad McCarthy is too much of a hit-or-miss author for me to want to dig back into his published works). #Ohwell

[luzula]

You seem to be in the "hate it" camp. : ) If it hadn't been for the book club, I don't think I would've finished it. I haven't read anything else by the author, and I don't think I will--there's too much other stuff out there that I could be reading.

[glitteryv]

I'm totes in that camp. *g*

there's too much other stuff out there that I could be reading.

Indeed! Depending on the size of the book (or fic), I'll give it a few pages (meaning a chapter or two) before I quit it. My TBR pile is huge--to the point that I don't lack any other reading materials. \Reading/!

[calvinahobbes]

Yay, I'm so glad you read "how the mouth..."! It's so amazing, and it does totally deserve a book review-type response. It's one of those fics I think about frequently.

[luzula]

Yes, so amazing! I hadn't read any fic for a while, and it felt so good to reconnect with fic that way. I really admire how it does so many things well--like, in one fic I might enjoy the characterization, but there isn't a very interesting plot, or the setting might not be fleshed out. But in this one it's all so good! The writing, the main characters, the supporting characters, the setting, the case plot, the sex scenes. Wow.

[oneiriad]

I doubt I'll ever get around to The Road. Most of what I've heard about it leans towards "it's sf, but it's by a mainstream, properly literary author, so it isn't really sf, it's just literature". Which is the sort of book that ends up pretty low on my list. If I'm going to read depressing post-apocalyptic sf, I'd like to be able to expect the author to actually know and play with the genre conventions. There's too many other books I want to read to settle for less.

Speaking of, I've finally gotten started on The Corn King and the Spring Queen.

[luzula]

Yeah, I really dislike that kind of "it's SF, but it's by a mainstream author, so it's okay" attitude.

Let me know what you think of The Corn King and the Spring Queen! I've got it in my to-read pile, but there are lots of other books there, as well. I have also recently obtained Mitchison's When the Bough Breaks which is a collection of historical short stories.