Recent reading + family visit

[luzula]

I am on my way home from several days of family get-together, which has been good but also exhausting and with some occasional friction with mom. No quarrels between mom and my brother-in-law yet though, which I'm very grateful for, and no allusions to the quarrel they had last summer! \o/

Here is a scene that happened:
My sister: Mom, do you want help cooking dinner?
Mom: No, that's okay.
Mom, a moment later: Luz, come and help me cook dinner!

Mind you, I was already responsible for cooking two dinners out of four during the visit. Yes, my sister does have two kids (7 and 3 years old) and I have none, but it would have made far more sense for me to be with the kids and my sister to help mom, since I don't get to see my nieces that often! Which is in fact how my sister and I resolved that situation. I introduced older niece to sawing and chopping wood (under close supervision), which she greatly enjoyed! \o/

I'm behind on writing up books, these are all ones I read during my trip.
The Female Soldier, Or, The Surprising Life and Adventures of Hannah Snell (1750)
Hannah Snell was an actual woman who did dress as a man and enlist as a soldier after being abandoned by her husband, but sadly this is not a particularly good book. In fact, it is not so much a book as a repetitive advertisement pamphlet to pay money to go and see Hannah Snell's show! Where she wears regimentals! And does musket drill! She was in Carlisle during the '45, but there's very little detail about that. Also there's a lot of emphasis on how physically strong she is (survives 500 lashes!) and how she kept her virtue (operated by herself on a wound in her groin to avoid discovery!). According to the pamphlet, discovery by anyone would inevitably have led to instant gang rape, because That's How Men Are.

The Amateur Cracksman by E W Hornung (1899)
Raffles is one of regshoe's fandoms, so I decided to read this on our trip. Raffles and Bunny are much like Holmes and Watson, if Holmes was a master criminal instead of a detective. And this is apparently not coincidence, since Conan Doyle was Hornung's brother-in-law. Anyway, I liked it! These are short, snappy, entertaining stories with enjoyable prose (although my eyes glaze over whenever I encounter cricket terms). The stories are slashy, yes, but I felt kind of...protective of Bunny? Like, Raffles has a bit too much advantage over him and I haven't seen enough of him so far to be entirely convinced that he cares enough? But regshoe assures me that future stories complicate their relationship more, so I guess I'll try them.

Löwenskiöldska ringen by Selma Lagerlöf (1925)
I read something in Swedish! This is a variation on the 'ring is stolen from a grave and misfortune follows everyone who takes it' idea, set in the 18th century. It's also a ghost story. I liked how it showed people from all levels of society as it followed the ring; it had enjoyable writing, some good plot twists, and some moving courtroom drama.

Comments

[regshoe]

I'm glad the family gathering was good and not too fraught! Teaching seven-year-old niece how to chop wood sounds like a fun time. :D

Hannah Snell's book is a bit like that, isn't it? I did think there was some very interesting history in between the eighteenth-century sensationalist moralising about Virtue and Men, but definitely not concentrating on the stuff most of interest. (I don't remember the advertisement bits so much, perhaps I skimmed over those).

Very glad you liked Raffles! The incomprehensible cricket is part of the charm, IMO :D

I felt kind of...protective of Bunny? Like, Raffles has a bit too much advantage over him and I haven't seen enough of him so far to be entirely convinced that he cares enough?

Oh, Raffles cares, don't doubt it—wait till you get to A Thief in the Night :D Also I think the stories benefit a lot from re-reading—the fast-paced action and engaging narration hide how much is going on under the surface and how unreliable Bunny's narration can be at times. But it's certainly not the most functional relationship in the world.

By the way, now that you're on Discord, there is a Raffles server—would you like an invite? :)

Ooh, a Selma Lagerlöf book I haven't read! That sounds very good—I shall have to decide whether to read it in English sooner or to wait till my Swedish is good enough for the original.

[luzula]

Well, perhaps I was exaggerating about the advertisements, but I was thinking of bits like this: "Now, notwithstanding this our Heroine has at sundry Times appeared upon a publick Stage since her Return to England, and diverted the Auditors with a Song or two, in order to procure a little Money, wherewith to support her present necessary Expences, yet the Publick we hope will encourage her, if she should have a Benefit Play perform’d on her own Account, as an Encouragement for the many singular Adventures, and signal Deliverances from the many Perils and Dangers that environed her, and all in the Behalf of her Country: Her Merit I think is such as is sufficient to set her upon a Level with the most celebrated Ladies of antient Times."

Oh, Raffles cares, don't doubt it—wait till you get to A Thief in the Night :D
I look forward to it! : ) I'll hold off on the Discord invite, at least for now, but thanks for the offer. I feel like I have too much to do at the moment...

[regshoe]

Heh, true, that is a bit of an advert! And I sympathise with the having too much to do.

[jesse_the_k]

My, family is hard. Glad you imparted some butch wisdom to your nibbling.

I've heard talk about Raffles for years, and I love the idea the Sherlock Holmes was such a ubiquitous cultural meme that even then folks were able to get published by playing with the tropes.

The Swedish book reminds me of a box office failure yet entertaining movie Twenty Bucks.

[luzula]

I immediately asked regshoe whether there existed crossover fic with Raffles and Holmes matching wits, and obviously that exists. Published ones, even.

[osprey_archer]

Oh, yay, Raffles! Those stories are such fun. And yes absolutely I get the whole "protective of Bunny" thing. In the earlier stories it really feels like a toss-up how much Raffles cares about Bunny: clearly not as much as Bunny cares about Raffles! And you could make a decent argument that early Raffles sees Bunny as a useful accomplice more than a friend.

But over time Raffles either grows fonder of Bunny, or perhaps more openly shows the fondness he always felt? Perhaps some of both.

There's a fantastic TV series from the 1970s: overall very faithful, and cheerfully comfortable with the slashy subtext.

[luzula]

They were a lot of fun! And glad it's not just me being protective of Bunny... I look forward to seeing Raffles eventually care more!

[seascribble]

Who is going to teach the nieces about backwoods craft if Tante Luz is too busy being roped into cooking!

[luzula]

Hee. It's charming how kids can be so enthusiastic about things that are everyday to me, because to them it's a cool new thing that they are experiencing for the first time!

[nnozomi]

Late comment, but I'm glad you made it safely through the family get-together, hopefully with more niece time and fewer unreasonable chores. Also enjoyable book reviews. (I'm curious how reading in English and Swedish are different for you; I definitely read differently in English and Japanese, although my Japanese isn't anything like as fluid as your English).

[luzula]

Thanks! : )

Oof, a difficult question. I sometimes feel ashamed of not reading more in what is, after all, my native language. I suppose it's just a result of the overwhelming cultural dominance of English? Of course there are many people in Sweden who only read books in Swedish, but the fannish subculture that I am, and the fandoms I have fallen for, are in English. (Though I'm sure there exist fan communities that write in Swedish.)

Well, but you didn't ask why I read more in English, you asked how it's different for me. Probably as a result of that cultural dominance, I just like English a whole lot, I enjoy it as a language, and get a lot of pleasure from reading it in the hands of a good author. There are definitely authors who can give me that pleasure in Swedish as well, but I would say that it's more rare for me. Or maybe I don't seek it out as much, because I will have a larger community of people to talk with about a book in English (because most of my Swedish friends and family read English books too, and not just Swedish ones). Also there's just so many MORE books in English, taking into consideration that if an English books has been translated into Swedish, I'll always choose to read the original. Oops, I wandered into the 'why' again...

Well, that was a bit rambling!

[nnozomi]

This has been sitting in my inbox for literally two months, apologies! I wanted to thank you for the thoughtful reply. I'm envious that reading in your second language is so easy for you that it gives you as much pleasure as in your first. (there's an incoherent sentence if you like). I do enjoy reading in Japanese, but except with a few books I really love, it's more effortful and much less immersive than reading in English is.
(I feel like there's no reason to feel ashamed of not reading more in Swedish? You read what you enjoy, both in the reading and in fannish etc. related interaction. And it's not like the Swedish books won't be there if you ever decide you want to read more in Swedish too.)
I'm interested in what specifically you enjoy about English, although ironically these things can't always be put into words? Etymologies, multiple speech registers, the pleasure of exercising a learned skill very well, phrases that don't translate...

[luzula]

When in your life did you learn Japanese? I learned English when I was eight or nine, by living for two years in the US. I figure that makes a huge difference from learning it as an adult. And maybe the different writing system makes it harder, too, and the different language group?

I'm interested in what specifically you enjoy about English, although ironically these things can't always be put into words?
I really don't think I can answer this! It's like asking why one likes a particular genre of music more than another? Or maybe you can put such a thing into words; I find it difficult. : )

I don't know if you have read A Memory Called Empire? Its depiction of falling in love with another (dominant) culture’s language, and the ambivalence the main character feels about it, resonated with me...

[nnozomi]

I really don't think I can answer this! It's like asking why one likes a particular genre of music more than another? Or maybe you can put such a thing into words; I find it difficult. : )
Fair! Sometimes there's just a shape in your (one's) brain that's shaped just right for it? ;)

When in your life did you learn Japanese? I learned English when I was eight or nine, by living for two years in the US. I figure that makes a huge difference from learning it as an adult. And maybe the different writing system makes it harder, too, and the different language group?
Yeah--I was eighteen when I started Japanese, so still pretty flexible-brained but definitely classroom learning rather than immersion. I think the different writing system is the biggest issue otherwise, it just doesn't come into my head as easily as roman text.

I don't know if you have read A Memory Called Empire? Its depiction of falling in love with another (dominant) culture’s language, and the ambivalence the main character feels about it, resonated with me...
Now that you mention it, yes and yes! I love those books. As a native speaker of the dominant language, for good or ill, it doesn't hit me quite the same way in personal terms, but it works really well to convey that feeling. (I wish she'd put in more conlang!)