Recent reading
Sep. 6th, 2023 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaA Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark (2021)
For book club. I listened to the audiobook of this, which I thought was well read, and I enjoyed getting to hear (I assume) an appropriate accent for it. As for the book itself, I thought it was fine--the worldbuilding was fun, but as was also apparent in the other book I’ve read by the author, there was a bit too much action for my taste. The climax scenes started to feel a little bit like video game action to me.
The Wild Swimmer of Kintail by Kellan MacInnes (2023)
I thought I’d try a modern Scottish book! I happened on this author because he had a positive mention of D K Broster in a previous book. This is a chatty mixture of personal memoir, travel guide, and history book: the author is just getting divorced from his long-time husband, and he and his dog go on a trip in the footsteps of Brenda G Macrow, a writer who visited all the hill lochs of the parish of Kintail in 1946 (with her dog). It’s enjoyable and interesting to read about the contrasts and similarities between Macrow’s experiences (which are quoted throughout) and his own--for example, the times when he has to take a different route because a glen is now buried under a hydroelectric dam. Though I do wish the proofreading had been better! And as someone who also ticks off swimming places, I somewhat question the title--most of the time he just dips his hand into the lochs instead of actually swimming in them, which the cover text implies that he does.
For book club. I listened to the audiobook of this, which I thought was well read, and I enjoyed getting to hear (I assume) an appropriate accent for it. As for the book itself, I thought it was fine--the worldbuilding was fun, but as was also apparent in the other book I’ve read by the author, there was a bit too much action for my taste. The climax scenes started to feel a little bit like video game action to me.
The Wild Swimmer of Kintail by Kellan MacInnes (2023)
I thought I’d try a modern Scottish book! I happened on this author because he had a positive mention of D K Broster in a previous book. This is a chatty mixture of personal memoir, travel guide, and history book: the author is just getting divorced from his long-time husband, and he and his dog go on a trip in the footsteps of Brenda G Macrow, a writer who visited all the hill lochs of the parish of Kintail in 1946 (with her dog). It’s enjoyable and interesting to read about the contrasts and similarities between Macrow’s experiences (which are quoted throughout) and his own--for example, the times when he has to take a different route because a glen is now buried under a hydroelectric dam. Though I do wish the proofreading had been better! And as someone who also ticks off swimming places, I somewhat question the title--most of the time he just dips his hand into the lochs instead of actually swimming in them, which the cover text implies that he does.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-07 05:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-08 08:08 pm (UTC)I liked how he took an almost fannish attitude to Brenda Macrow's life, digging up details of her life, and speculating about how perhaps she had a torrid romance with a pilot when she worked at a USAF base during WWII, etc. : D
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-07 11:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-08 08:21 pm (UTC)Hmm, perhaps I should try more of his novellas, then. Or realistically speaking, probably I won't unless they get nominated for my book club, since left to myself I gravitate towards British history stuff, for fannish reasons...
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-08 05:10 am (UTC)I ended up DNFing A Master of Djinn halfway through. I loved the characters, but it felt like a whole barrage of things kept happening to the main character, instead of her actually doing anything or making choices herself. And a lot of things happen to her, of course. Loads of secondary characters, loads of action...
I would love to read those characters with a different plot.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-08 08:21 pm (UTC)Just in case
Date: 2023-09-08 04:46 pm (UTC)you haven't experienced the goofiness which is Scottish BBC sports commentator Andrew Cotter hill-walking and narrating his dogs' interactions with the world and each other:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhpJuraz14&list=PLdca3BMTMUqzJ21JyvfoTsoDkJFmrB7Ku
Short, silly, heartwarming.
Re: Just in case
Date: 2023-09-08 08:23 pm (UTC)Re: Just in case
Date: 2023-09-11 07:15 pm (UTC)