Recent reading
Oct. 18th, 2023 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI dare you not to snigger at the book title The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, from 1883.
Königsmark by A E W Mason (1938)
I found this book while browsing what claimed to be the largest second-hand bookstore in Scandinavia, and given my osmosis fromcahn’s salon, I had to buy it. It is about the 17th century romance between Phillip von Königsmark and Sophia Dorothea of Celle (the wife of the future George I of Britain). I have previously read Mason’s book Clementina, and going by these two books, the author likes tragic romance (to be clear, if this were a fic on AO3, it would need a warning for major character death). I enjoyed it! Besides the het romance, there's also a slashy element where Anthony, a devoted friend of Phillip’s, is disillusioned with Phillip when he lies to save his brother from being convicted in a murder trial… and later on Anthony rats out Phillip's love affair, to tragic effect. Phillip himself is portrayed as somewhat self-serving and full of self-doubt to begin with, and originally pursues Sophia Dorothea as a way of blotting out past humiliations… but then falls genuinely in love with her, which is viewed as a sort of redemption for him. The two main villains are Bernstorff, the scheming chancellor of Celle, and Clara von Platen, the mistress of the Elector of Hanover. I did find the portrayal of Clara a little misogynistic--there's a bit too much about how she's like an aging witch who has to use thick makeup. Also, the future George I has basically no role in the climax of the story, which I wonder at. More on this book at cahn’s salon.
All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot (1977, audiobook)
Another dose of engaging vet stories! A+, I enjoyed it a lot. Although I have to say that I listened to one of the WWII stories with mounting disbelief: he told it like it was an amusing anecdote, but in fact it was an absolute horror story! He needlessly had one of his teeth pulled out by an incompetent dentist with terrifying tools…
Also, I have been rereading my first FotH poly fic The Greater Happiness, and enjoying it a lot! I mean, I do write to my own tastes, so it's nice that when enough time has passed, I can enjoy my own stories. Especially when it's nicely bound in my bookcase.
Königsmark by A E W Mason (1938)
I found this book while browsing what claimed to be the largest second-hand bookstore in Scandinavia, and given my osmosis from
cahn’s salon, I had to buy it. It is about the 17th century romance between Phillip von Königsmark and Sophia Dorothea of Celle (the wife of the future George I of Britain). I have previously read Mason’s book Clementina, and going by these two books, the author likes tragic romance (to be clear, if this were a fic on AO3, it would need a warning for major character death). I enjoyed it! Besides the het romance, there's also a slashy element where Anthony, a devoted friend of Phillip’s, is disillusioned with Phillip when he lies to save his brother from being convicted in a murder trial… and later on Anthony rats out Phillip's love affair, to tragic effect. Phillip himself is portrayed as somewhat self-serving and full of self-doubt to begin with, and originally pursues Sophia Dorothea as a way of blotting out past humiliations… but then falls genuinely in love with her, which is viewed as a sort of redemption for him. The two main villains are Bernstorff, the scheming chancellor of Celle, and Clara von Platen, the mistress of the Elector of Hanover. I did find the portrayal of Clara a little misogynistic--there's a bit too much about how she's like an aging witch who has to use thick makeup. Also, the future George I has basically no role in the climax of the story, which I wonder at. More on this book at cahn’s salon.All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot (1977, audiobook)
Another dose of engaging vet stories! A+, I enjoyed it a lot. Although I have to say that I listened to one of the WWII stories with mounting disbelief: he told it like it was an amusing anecdote, but in fact it was an absolute horror story! He needlessly had one of his teeth pulled out by an incompetent dentist with terrifying tools…
Also, I have been rereading my first FotH poly fic The Greater Happiness, and enjoying it a lot! I mean, I do write to my own tastes, so it's nice that when enough time has passed, I can enjoy my own stories. Especially when it's nicely bound in my bookcase.
