Recent reading
Nov. 30th, 2023 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI have a cold (or so I assume; I tested negative for covid, at least), and so am endeavouring to rest in bed and do some comfort reading. But before that, I finished these:
Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1782)
I like to feed my brain on 18th century prose regularly, and two people had told me this was page-turney. Indeed it was, though I can only reconcile myself to the characters if I consider that soon the French revolution will arrive and hopefully force them all to work for a living (and I would not mourn if some of them faced the guillotine). I do enjoy epistolary books, and the collaborative Librivox audiobook was very good, perhaps with the exception of Valmont, who is read in a moustache-twirling-villain fashion which makes it difficult to understand why Madame de Tourvel falls for him. But after all the reader has to act out Valmont raping a young woman with great self-satisfaction, so I guess I can understand the choice. I guess I am surprised at how much the villains get their punishment, though? I had the impression this would be a more amoral sort of book. But I guess several of the more virtuous characters also end badly. I do wonder at Valmont dying by Danceny's hand, though--I had thought Valmont much more able to manipulate the more inexperienced Danceny such that he would avoid being challenged by him. (ETA: Note: comments contain spoilers.)
How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human, by Melanie Challenger (2020)
Non-fiction; I got this after listening to an interesting podcast interview with the author. The theme is, by the author's own summation, "that humans are animals, that we struggle with that fact, and that this matters to us immensely". It ranges widely within that topic, from AI to psychological research to animal research to the author's personal musings. I found it worthwhile, though sometimes it summed up scientific studies in a single sentence in a way that made me wonder what got lost in the compression.
Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1782)
I like to feed my brain on 18th century prose regularly, and two people had told me this was page-turney. Indeed it was, though I can only reconcile myself to the characters if I consider that soon the French revolution will arrive and hopefully force them all to work for a living (and I would not mourn if some of them faced the guillotine). I do enjoy epistolary books, and the collaborative Librivox audiobook was very good, perhaps with the exception of Valmont, who is read in a moustache-twirling-villain fashion which makes it difficult to understand why Madame de Tourvel falls for him. But after all the reader has to act out Valmont raping a young woman with great self-satisfaction, so I guess I can understand the choice. I guess I am surprised at how much the villains get their punishment, though? I had the impression this would be a more amoral sort of book. But I guess several of the more virtuous characters also end badly. I do wonder at Valmont dying by Danceny's hand, though--I had thought Valmont much more able to manipulate the more inexperienced Danceny such that he would avoid being challenged by him. (ETA: Note: comments contain spoilers.)
How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human, by Melanie Challenger (2020)
Non-fiction; I got this after listening to an interesting podcast interview with the author. The theme is, by the author's own summation, "that humans are animals, that we struggle with that fact, and that this matters to us immensely". It ranges widely within that topic, from AI to psychological research to animal research to the author's personal musings. I found it worthwhile, though sometimes it summed up scientific studies in a single sentence in a way that made me wonder what got lost in the compression.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-02 02:50 am (UTC)Hm, I'm not convinced by
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-02 06:05 pm (UTC)Also, the moustache is metaphorical, obviously, since he's an 18th century character. : )
But I will have to chew over what I'd consider a satisfying ending to the proposed FotH x DL crossover, should I ever write it.
I feel very protective of the FotH characters in this scenario!
Did you check out the fic for DL, btw? I have some open in tabs right now that look promising, mostly ones that queer the canon...
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-02 10:44 pm (UTC)Also, the moustache is metaphorical, obviously, since he's an 18th century character. : )
omg, you and your thing about mustaches! It's not like you would have found Valmont attractive in either case. :-P
I feel very protective of the FotH characters in this scenario!
So do I! Obviously our Heron trio emerge stronger than ever, but I also envision this happening pre-DL, so Valmont's and Mertieul's defeat and humiliation must be private instead of public. But to make this work, the threat to our Heron trio must be credible, and their victory decisive, so... *still thinking this over*
Did you check out the fic for DL, btw?
In the first half of the novel I wanted Cecille/Mertieul fic, but as I recall there wasn't that much of it. But last year there was a substack readalong of DL, so maybe more has emerged by now. I never did go searching for fic after finishing the novel. Do make recs if you find anything good!
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-03 10:39 am (UTC)It's true, Valmont would have found me an extremely difficult challenge. But I can in fact appreciate moustaches, on the right person and in the right time period! I think Jude Law as Watson looks very nice in his.
This gen fic about Valmont and Merteuil during the French revolution was quite good! This Valmont/Danceny fic has gone to my ereader, but it looks promising. I enjoyed this Cecile/Merteuil fic except that it had Merteuil being far too honest to Valmont about her feelings for Cecile.