Recent reading + some RL stuff
Jul. 6th, 2021 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI am out sailing, and have had more time for reading, though currently I have a tendency to jump back and forth between books, meaning I haven't finished that many. I also read some of my backlog of magazines (for the record: they are membership magazines for the Swedish Birdlife association, for the Swedish botanical association, for the Swedish entomological association, for the cooperative bank where I am a member (more interesting than it sounds), and for my syndicalist worker's union).
Anyway, the book I have finished is:
Jill by E. A. Dillwyn (1884, newly available on Gutenberg here and here)
regshoe asked me to proofread this book, and so I did (finding remarkably few errors!) I found the book a little difficult to get into at first, because Jill, the main character, is aloof and cares for no one, and no one cares for her--I usually need some sort of hook of emotion to get me into a story. Fortunately, we fairly soon do get such a hook. Jill runs away from home and finds a position as lady's maid for the one person who has ever fascinated her: the proud Kitty Mervyn. They travel Europe and have adventures. Sadly, Jill does not get to stay with Kitty, but instead goes on to have other employers. I admit I got a bit impatient with the story at this point, and wanted her to have more interaction with Kitty instead (though it's not like the book forgets about her).
Jill is rather amoral and thinks nothing of forging her character and doing other things that sometimes come back to bite her. She also studies Kitty and provokes her reactions in ways that are sometimes questionable. In the latter part of the book she is fascinated by another woman who teaches her a higher morality by example, but who meets a rather, uh, over-the-top fate. If this all sounds rather femslashy, it is! Would definitely read Jill/Kitty fic for Yuletide.
For book club I also read a third of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (2020) a while ago, but alas, it was not quite for me--the plot was too slow and the book was too much taken up by imagery. But to be fair, I might have stuck it out if I hadn't been so much in the mood for comfort reading instead.
Oh, and in other news! We found our fourth housemate: a woman who has studied marine biology, has been a boat mechanic for Greenpeace, and has lived on her sailing boat for the past six years. She seems great. I am so relieved, and am much less sad about my other housemates leaving!
Anyway, the book I have finished is:
Jill by E. A. Dillwyn (1884, newly available on Gutenberg here and here)
regshoe asked me to proofread this book, and so I did (finding remarkably few errors!) I found the book a little difficult to get into at first, because Jill, the main character, is aloof and cares for no one, and no one cares for her--I usually need some sort of hook of emotion to get me into a story. Fortunately, we fairly soon do get such a hook. Jill runs away from home and finds a position as lady's maid for the one person who has ever fascinated her: the proud Kitty Mervyn. They travel Europe and have adventures. Sadly, Jill does not get to stay with Kitty, but instead goes on to have other employers. I admit I got a bit impatient with the story at this point, and wanted her to have more interaction with Kitty instead (though it's not like the book forgets about her). Jill is rather amoral and thinks nothing of forging her character and doing other things that sometimes come back to bite her. She also studies Kitty and provokes her reactions in ways that are sometimes questionable. In the latter part of the book she is fascinated by another woman who teaches her a higher morality by example, but who meets a rather, uh, over-the-top fate. If this all sounds rather femslashy, it is! Would definitely read Jill/Kitty fic for Yuletide.
For book club I also read a third of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (2020) a while ago, but alas, it was not quite for me--the plot was too slow and the book was too much taken up by imagery. But to be fair, I might have stuck it out if I hadn't been so much in the mood for comfort reading instead.
Oh, and in other news! We found our fourth housemate: a woman who has studied marine biology, has been a boat mechanic for Greenpeace, and has lived on her sailing boat for the past six years. She seems great. I am so relieved, and am much less sad about my other housemates leaving!
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 06:49 pm (UTC)I pretty much agree with everything you've said about Jill :D Especially the way Jill and Kitty separate after all their adventures and relationship development—it felt like the book does all the set-up for something really interesting and then sort of drops it and wanders off, leaving Kitty and Jill's feelings for her in a really rather inconclusive position at the end. Well, it certainly leaves an opening for fic, at least—which I would certainly read (either Jill/Kitty, or perhaps Jill/Sister Helena fix-it—that silly ending could definitely do with it!). I really enjoy Jill's blithe amorality, actually—amoral main characters seem to have been a bit of a thing with Dillwyn—The Rebecca Rioter has one as well, in a more overtly criminal context.
(btw, both those links go to volume I—volume II is here)
Excellent news about the new housemate, also :)
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 07:04 pm (UTC)Also, Sister Helena's death by ice pick is definitely in need of fixing...
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-07 03:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 06:53 pm (UTC)The fourth housemate sounds like a great fit! Hurray.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-06 07:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-07 07:51 pm (UTC)The new housemate also sounds like a great addition!
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-12 10:38 am (UTC)I can imagine! And I really must reread JSMN at some point...
Yes, I hope the new housemate will work well; I'm looking forward to getting to know her.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-08 01:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-12 10:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-09 12:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-07-12 10:43 am (UTC)