Recent reading

[luzula]

I have emerged from the depths of Yuletide and started reading books again. Fic recs to come.

Rövarna i Skuleskogen by Kerstin Ekman [in English as The Forest of Hours]
This is the story of a troll over 500 years of Swedish history. Association with humans changes him over time from a wild thing eating bugs and with only fleeting thoughts in his head, to something close (but not identical) to human. I guess this is historical fantasy, but in flavor it's more like a folk tale. This book does beautiful things with the Swedish language. I have no idea if the translation is as good; I doubt it could give the same sense of place. Anyway, recommended!

Hopsnackat, edited by Frances Tuuloskorpi
A collection of anonymous stories of successful workplace struggles. I have no idea how to translate the title--it means approximately "together-talked". As a verb ("snacka ihop sig") it means an informal process where a group talks together to reach a decision or opinion about something. So if something is "hopsnackat" it's the result of such a process. Anyone have suggestions for how to render that in English?

Recently abandoned books:
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (audiobook)
This was highly recommended by several people in my circle, so maybe my expectations were too high--I listened to about 25 % of it but then lost my place in the recording and couldn't be bothered to find it again. I didn't dislike it at all; it just didn't grip me enough. Does it change much after that? Should I try again?

Chime by Franny Billingsley
For my fannish book club. This is YA and I found the style annoying--I read 25 % and then gave up. I guess "I am super-special and I hate myself; nobody has ever suffered like I have suffered" is actually rather true to teenage angst, but there are things I would rather be reading.

Comments

[the_rck]

'Consensus' might be the word you're looking for. It has different meanings, though. It can mean getting the general feeling of what most of the group thinks, but it can also mean a decision that wasn't finalized until all members of the group agreed and accepted it. My daughter's Girl Scout troop when she was ten operated on the latter version of consensus so that they couldn't do anything unless every girl present agreed to it.

[isis]

Hmm. I thought City of Stairs got more interesting after the Votrov party, which is about a quarter of the way through, because the divine and miraculous take a larger role. But I wouldn't say it changes, really. It's entirely possible it's just not your thing!

[akamine_chan]

I think 'consensus' is actually probably the closest approximation to the word you're looking for.

Though I have to admit that hopsnackat sound much more interesting. :D

[luzula]

Swedish also has the word "consensus", and that word is more formal and more about the result and not the process. Thanks, though! Translation is interesting. : )

[luzula]

It's hard to pinpoint what makes a book work for someone or not! For example, I remember that I was into The Martian and you weren't. But we also have a lot of overlap of books that we enjoy.