Recent reading

[luzula]

I went through my DW circle and unfollowed some people that I probably followed in friending memes at some point, but that I then haven't interacted with at all. But going through that list also made me a little melancholy: there are so many people there that I used to be friends with, who are now just gone. : ( I wonder what they're doing now?

Couching at the Door by D K Broster (1942)
Broster’s collection of stories that are dark/weird/creepy/supernatural. Some of these also appear in her other story collection A Fire of Driftwood, which I had read before. This is not a genre that I read much in otherwise, so I don't have much comparison, but I quite liked these stories. Broster’s prose is as enjoyable as usual, and it's interesting to see her apply it to other subjects than historical novels. I was wondering what she would do with the Persephone story, but that was one of my least favorite stories--it only very tangentially touched on the myth, or perhaps I was just too dense to get it.

The Catalans by Patrick O’Brian (1953)
I was wondering what O'Brian wrote when he wasn't writing boat books. This is a contemporaneous story set on the same stretch of coast near the border between France and Spain that Hornblower blasted with cannons in A Ship of the Line; apparently O'Brien lived there for a long time. I like his writing style, and the setting is vividly drawn in a way I admire and enjoy, but on the whole I didn't enjoy this like I do the Aubrey/Maturin books. It just doesn't have the same warmth, and I didn't connect with the characters the same way.

Comments

[chestnut_pod]

The internet is so ephemeral. I too often wonder where some specific people have gone, and hope they're doing well.

[luzula]

Yeah. Some of these people I've met in person as well, since I went to the Bitching Party con in Seattle twice during my due South years.

[china_shop]

there are so many people there that I used to be friends with, who are now just gone. : ( I wonder what they're doing now?

I know what you mean. I tend to assume they're on tumblr or Discord, but I'm sure some must have drifted out of fandom. :-(

[luzula]

I guess I more often assume they've drifted out of fandom, but maybe you're right!

[china_shop]

If you're wondering about specific people and they used to be writers, you could check AO3 for recent works... not conclusive, but something.

I also miss so much lively conversation

[jesse_the_k]

...and yet I'm not hosting it at my journal.

Ah well. Most of my generation (I'm 68-1/2) is on Facebook.

Re: I also miss so much lively conversation

[luzula]

I dunno, I have as much conversation as I can keep up with, I think! It's more about wondering where specific people are now...

[regshoe]

I know what you mean about vanished internet friends. :(

'The Taste of Pomegranates' is a really weird one! I found it compelling in how vividly Broster just goes with all the weird ideas—archaeology, time travel, literal cave bears—and I don't especially care about the Persephone myth as such, but if you were expecting a take on the myth it would be a bit disappointing. What were your favourite stories in the collection?

[luzula]

It's not that I'm especially into the Persephone myth, but that it's always interesting to see what authors do with various myths? I think I would have enjoyed that story more without that expectation, since as far as I can see, it didn't have much to do with the myth. Also, I loved the idea of going into the past by going into a cave that was inhabited in the past, but the past felt like it was only about the danger of the cave bears--I felt like more interesting things might have been done with that. Like, what if they met people instead?

Anyway! Like you said elsewhere, The Pavement was quite good, with the obsession that led the main character to destroy what she loved rather than let someone else have it--and yes, it does have femslash potential. In Couching at the Door, I didn't like the main character (nor was I intended to), but it was a such a well-drawn portrait of a pretentious man, and the fur boa that just wants to follow him around and snuggle him was so vivid. From the Abyss had an interesting premise, but I never quite connected to the characters. OTOH, in The Promised Land it was creepily easy to sympathise with Ellen, murdering her overbearing cousin who is ruining Italy for her! I liked The Window, with its ties to Broster's French history interests, but rolled my eyes at the last line.

[regshoe]

I see—I suppose she meant more to use the ideas and aesthetics of the myth rather than doing a take on the story? I rather liked how the lack of other people in the past added to the mystery of the events and the characters' isolation, but there would certainly have been more interesting narrative possibilities in them meeting some cave people too!

'The Promised Land' is so brilliantly chilling. I really like seeing Broster's writing style and talents employed in such a different way from what she usually does in the historical novels, and it's cool to see her bringing her favourite historical stuff into that as well, though I agree about the last line of 'The Window'.

[dhampyresa]

Does the Catalans feature being blasted with cannons?

[luzula]

Nope! It's set in the 1950's, so no cannons.

[seascribble]

Even just recently with the twitter exodus I've lost touch with so many people I used to see online every day and it is very sad. :( But the folks hanging on over here are some of the people I've known the longest!

[luzula]

I was never on Twitter or Tumblr, just on LJ and then DW. But some of these people I've also met in person, and those feel especially sad to lose contact with.

[cahn]

Yeah, I wonder about this too. There are a lot of people I had some great and interesting conversations with, and considered friends, and now they're just... not there. I assume most of them just drifted away, especially as one gets busier (I know I post less than I used to when I was less busy, and less than I'd like!) -- but I hope they're all doing okay.

[luzula]

Yeah, it's completely understandable that people have different phases of their lives, with different interests and amounts of free time, but it's still sad when they disappear utterly. I hope they're doing okay too!

[garonne]

I also enjoyed Couching at the Door recently, though I felt like I was enjoying the quality of the prose much more than the spookiness or creepiness. I wasn't expecting so many of the stories to have happy endings, with the supernatural elements quite easily dealt with!

[luzula]

I felt like I was enjoying the quality of the prose much more than the spookiness or creepiness
Me too! In general I'm not a horror fan, and so I also don't have much knowledge of the expectations of the genre.