Recent reading + family visit
Jul. 21st, 2022 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI 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 ofregshoe'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.
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.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-30 08:36 am (UTC)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!)