Recent reading
Jun. 9th, 2023 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaMaurice by E M Forster (written in 1913-14)
This was my audiobook during my last hike! It is beautifully written, and I definitely enjoyed it. I do wish Maurice and Alec luck together, but also I feel that "OMG someone who wants to sleep with me!" is perhaps not enough, especially on just a few days' acquaintance, to be sure that they will work together long-term. Also I feel like Clive got so much more interiority than Alec did?
Doom Castle by Neil Munro (1901)
Another Jacobite historical! One source says that the author in his day was regarded as a natural successor to Scott and Stevenson. This one is an enjoyable adventure novel with the Frenchman de Montaiglon coming to Argyllshire in pursuit of a Hanoverian spy who had behaved dastardly towards a woman, set in 1755, to which year the Appin murder has inexplicably been moved (perhaps he also followed RLS in inexplicably moving the Appin murder??). The book has a crumbling castle, romantic nature descriptions, a mysterious flute-player, a duel, a daring escape from prison, a fair maiden, etc. The beginning is a bit slow but makes up for it with good description; the het romance is predictable but inoffensive, and there's a brief slashy moment between him and the spy, but it doesn't go anywhere. I am looking forward to two of his other books: one that is set during the building of Wade's roads, and another in the late 18th century that involves the Loch Arkaig gold. These last are available on fadedpage.
This was my audiobook during my last hike! It is beautifully written, and I definitely enjoyed it. I do wish Maurice and Alec luck together, but also I feel that "OMG someone who wants to sleep with me!" is perhaps not enough, especially on just a few days' acquaintance, to be sure that they will work together long-term. Also I feel like Clive got so much more interiority than Alec did?
Doom Castle by Neil Munro (1901)
Another Jacobite historical! One source says that the author in his day was regarded as a natural successor to Scott and Stevenson. This one is an enjoyable adventure novel with the Frenchman de Montaiglon coming to Argyllshire in pursuit of a Hanoverian spy who had behaved dastardly towards a woman, set in 1755, to which year the Appin murder has inexplicably been moved (perhaps he also followed RLS in inexplicably moving the Appin murder??). The book has a crumbling castle, romantic nature descriptions, a mysterious flute-player, a duel, a daring escape from prison, a fair maiden, etc. The beginning is a bit slow but makes up for it with good description; the het romance is predictable but inoffensive, and there's a brief slashy moment between him and the spy, but it doesn't go anywhere. I am looking forward to two of his other books: one that is set during the building of Wade's roads, and another in the late 18th century that involves the Loch Arkaig gold. These last are available on fadedpage.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-06-12 05:14 pm (UTC)Thank you for the titles! They'll all go on my to-read list :D
I think Clive is deeply, deeply repressed and self-deceiving, so much so that it does come across as weird and confusing. (The film makes it much more legible, having another gay character go to prison and showing Clive's conversion as a reaction to that). Have you read