Recent reading
Aug. 29th, 2020 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaAlternate ending to my previous fic now at 22,300 words. It is kind of hilarious that this is now longer than anything I wrote before I ended up in this fandom...
Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison (1952)
For my fannish book club, my choice. This is probably my third reread or something, but I wanted to make the others read it and to discuss it with them. And I still love it. ♥ If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it--it's sort of a feminist response to The Hobbit, with a female main character and a decidedly different view of dragons and heroes.
Society Favourite and Old Enemies, New Problems by L.A. Hall (#7 and #4 of The Comfortable Courtesan)
Yes, you read those numbers right. *facepalm* I am used to these books requiring some brainpower to get into if it's been some time since the last one, since there's a large cast of characters and we only get initials. There's a key to the characters in the beginning, to be sure, but with an ebook you can't go flipping back and forth all the time. Anyway, I felt more than usually confused by Society Favourite (I don't remember this character at all? And wait, were these two people married??) but supposed that my own memory was at fault. And lo, having finished it I found that I had skipped three books! No wonder I was confused. I think I had skipped a row at the website, since they're listed in rows of three. Anyway, I went back to book #4. Much less confusion now!
If you have not read these books, I highly recommend them. Here is the website, be sure to start with book number one. *g* The style is delightfully idiosyncratic, and there's such a warmth and domesticity to them, and a diverse cast of characters all lovingly portrayed. I went straight on with #5, because why not. 'Tis most excellent comfort reading.
Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison (1952)
For my fannish book club, my choice. This is probably my third reread or something, but I wanted to make the others read it and to discuss it with them. And I still love it. ♥ If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it--it's sort of a feminist response to The Hobbit, with a female main character and a decidedly different view of dragons and heroes.
Society Favourite and Old Enemies, New Problems by L.A. Hall (#7 and #4 of The Comfortable Courtesan)
Yes, you read those numbers right. *facepalm* I am used to these books requiring some brainpower to get into if it's been some time since the last one, since there's a large cast of characters and we only get initials. There's a key to the characters in the beginning, to be sure, but with an ebook you can't go flipping back and forth all the time. Anyway, I felt more than usually confused by Society Favourite (I don't remember this character at all? And wait, were these two people married??) but supposed that my own memory was at fault. And lo, having finished it I found that I had skipped three books! No wonder I was confused. I think I had skipped a row at the website, since they're listed in rows of three. Anyway, I went back to book #4. Much less confusion now!
If you have not read these books, I highly recommend them. Here is the website, be sure to start with book number one. *g* The style is delightfully idiosyncratic, and there's such a warmth and domesticity to them, and a diverse cast of characters all lovingly portrayed. I went straight on with #5, because why not. 'Tis most excellent comfort reading.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-08-29 06:50 pm (UTC)Good to hear the alternate ending is coming along so well! More thousands of words of happiness for Keith and Ewen are certainly a good thing :D
(no subject)
Date: 2020-08-29 07:14 pm (UTC)Oh, you should! I love her writing, and it is certainly very diverse. Travel Light is a good one to start with. I've been meaning to reread The Bull Calves since it's set just after the '45, and I'm sure I'll appreciate it much better now. Actually my review of it is pretty hilarious in hindsight--I was confused about Jacobites and wondered were they the same as Jacobins? Heee.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-08-30 12:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-08-30 07:00 am (UTC)- Travel Light is short children's fantasy, though very readable for adults too.
- The Bull Calves is historical fiction set in 18th century Scotland and very good.
- Memoirs of a Spacewoman is SF with interesting worldbuilding.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-08-30 05:10 pm (UTC)Travel Light sounds like it would be pleasantly distracting. L.A. Hall is a huge Mitchison proponent so extra points for thematic consistency!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-08-30 06:11 pm (UTC)Here is one of my favorite quotes from Travel Light:
He hid himself in under the foredeck among ropes and sails. Halla went to look for him; he had turned bearish, in a den, head buried between paws. When she spoke, kneeling beside him, he pulled her down suddenly on to the cold sail, arm heavy on her neck, his wet cheek by hers. For a time they stayed so. If he could sleep, she thought, sleep through the unhappy months, the heart's hunger, the months of death and cold and not having what you most want, and wake with time gone past and blurred and a new year coming. But perhaps it is too early in the year, she thought after that, and besides, he is not a bear.
My!
Date: 2020-08-30 11:26 pm (UTC)That is lovely, evocative prose.
(I love ebooks -- instant gratification in the best possible way.)