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Recent reading
Hester by Margaret Oliphant (1883)
Wow, this was great. I listened to the Librivox recording which was very enjoyable, but it's on Gutenberg, too. I will link to![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
regshoe’s review for a summary of the plot, but it is one of enemies to… something complicated, between a young woman and her great-aunt. Where the complicated eventual relationship is one of mutual respect and recognition of how similar they are after all, and also one of mentor-and-(strongly implied)-heir-to-her-legacy. Very satisfying! I read someone somewhere complaining that Margaret Oliphant was not feminist enough, which I really cannot understand! Granted that perhaps the three books I have now read of her might not be representative, but those three books have all had a focus on women, relationships between women, and women working for a living.
Kornas planet (Planet of Cows) by Gunnar Rundgren and Ann-Helen Meyer von Bremen (2020)
This book is about cows, from all sorts of angles: What it was like when the authors decided to get cows a few years ago, the history of cows and humans together, how cows and humans live together in different places around the world (with interviews), how cows fit into the food system today and in the past, cows and nature conservation, cows and climate, etc etc. I liked the mixture of down-to-earth stories of their own cows, with the wider outlook.
Wow, this was great. I listened to the Librivox recording which was very enjoyable, but it's on Gutenberg, too. I will link to
regshoe’s review for a summary of the plot, but it is one of enemies to… something complicated, between a young woman and her great-aunt. Where the complicated eventual relationship is one of mutual respect and recognition of how similar they are after all, and also one of mentor-and-(strongly implied)-heir-to-her-legacy. Very satisfying! I read someone somewhere complaining that Margaret Oliphant was not feminist enough, which I really cannot understand! Granted that perhaps the three books I have now read of her might not be representative, but those three books have all had a focus on women, relationships between women, and women working for a living.Kornas planet (Planet of Cows) by Gunnar Rundgren and Ann-Helen Meyer von Bremen (2020)
This book is about cows, from all sorts of angles: What it was like when the authors decided to get cows a few years ago, the history of cows and humans together, how cows and humans live together in different places around the world (with interviews), how cows fit into the food system today and in the past, cows and nature conservation, cows and climate, etc etc. I liked the mixture of down-to-earth stories of their own cows, with the wider outlook.
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Hee, I had just the same first impression of Edward :D and I agree about how well Oliphant sets him and Edward/Hester up to subvert initial expectations.
The next Oliphant I plan to read is Effie Ogilvie, because just beneath one of the reviews Kidnapped that I found there was a review of Effie Ogilvie that said it has some of the same good qualities!
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Oh, interesting! I'll choose some other one, then, and we can both report back. : )
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