Reading Friday!

[frayadjacent]

I've been travelling a lot, which means plenty of time for reading but not much for DW posting.

What I've finished reading since my last post:

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. What I thought would be a fun, tight-knit murder mystery turned out to be a big story covering hundreds of years, major political upheavals, and some thought-provoking ideas about clones. I enjoyed this a lot.

Redshirts by John Scalzi. It was a fun book and made me laugh, but as my first Scalzi novel, I can't say it made me want to read more.

The Thessaly series by Jo Walton (The Just City, The Philosopher Kings, and Necessity). An interesting series, especially as an exploration of utopia. I never thought I'd read a book that would make me excited about the god Apollo. I found that even though I wasn't enormously taken in by the plots or characters, I couldn't put them down, and I think that's just because the prose is so damn readable. I came to particularly love the character Maia, and was bummed that she wasn't in the last novel.

Lavinia, by Ursula K Le Guin. I've had the e-book for ages, and after I finished The Just City, but before I realised there were two more novels after it, I was in the mood for more Bronze Age fiction. Le Guin's prose is as wonderful as ever, and I loved the use of the device that Lavinia -- and everyone else -- was a character in the Aeneid, not a historical figure. I find Le Guin's tendency toward gender essentialism more annoying than I used to.

The Small Change trilogy by Jo Walton (Farthing, Ha'penny, and Half a Crown). Detective noir/political thriller series set in an AU where the UK made peace with the Nazis and the US never joined WWII. In the first book, one of the POV characters is happily married to a man with the same first and last name as Mr. Adjacent, and it was very strange! At several points I thought I'd have to stop reading it because this character was under serious threat and I thought he might die. The end of the series was narratively satisfying but politically annoying. Between this series and the Thessaly series I have read two instances in Walton where the oppressed and their allies basically convinced those in power (or rather, a sympathetic faction of those in power) to stop oppressing them. I'm with Fredrick Douglass on that one.

What I'm currently reading

My Real Children by Jo Walton. Yes, I'm on a kick. I've just started this, but I'm hoping it will be more the intimate, character-driven story that Among Others was. As much as I've enjoyed Walton's books that I've read since then, none of them can hold a candle to that one.

Also, I'm slowly re-reading Searoad: Chronicles of Klatsand by Ursula K Le Guin. I read it for the first (and only) time more than 15 years ago, so all I really remember is the overall feel of the book.

What I'll read next

I pre-ordered the new Philip Pullman book, La Belle Sauvage, and it will be arriving in less than a month. I told myself I'd re-read His Dark Materials first. Also, last year I purchased N.K. Jemisin's Obelisk Gate but decided to wait until the third book was out before reading the whole trilogy (including re-reading The Fifth Season). Now the third book is out but I haven't bought it yet. And finally, I have four books on hold from the library and I plan to drop anything else to read them once they become available. In other words, I don't know.

Free book-shaped space

I finally got my account set up to get e-books from the library and my book buying is plummeting (excepting the Le Guin haul, described below) while my reading rate soars. I'm so pleased.

I recently learned that Worldcon 77 (in 2019) will be in Dublin! I really really want to go -- Dublin is cheaper to get to than London and almost as easy -- but it's within a week of my 10-year wedding anniversary, when we are also planning a big trip. I know this is nearly two years away, but August always ends up filled with family travel, so I feel like I do have to plan this far in advance in order for it to happen.

I went to Portland, Oregon in August, for the first time since probably 2003. I went to Powell's and re-purchased many of the Le Guin books I'd gotten rid of in a misguided purge a few years ago. All the books I bought were used -- I prefer to buy used books anyway, but these were necessarily so since I bought out of print books. Anyway, my Le Guin library is slowly being restored. Also, I almost bought a few missing Earthsea novels, but then a guy at the checkout counter told me that next year they'll be releasing a new illustrated version of the series, so I decided to hold out for that. Speaking of, the fancy illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is coming out soon. I seem to be collecting them all, but I'm really curious to see how they'll do the later books, as even The Philosopher's Stone is huge and unweildy.

Comments

[isis]

I've only read The Just City of the series, which I liked but didn't feel like OMG must read the next. I should see if the library has them.

I just finished the first two books of Rick Riordan's middle grade Trials of Apollo series, and let me say, that puts Apollo into a whole new light! (He's offended Zeus and is put in the body of a mortal teen to join the various demigods on earth from the Percy Jackson etc series. He's also an entitled, vain jerk, but is gradually learning! It's a lot of fun.)

[frayadjacent]

Hee, those books sounds like a fun complement to the Apollo of the Thessaly novels! Which, I think if you enjoyed The Just City, it's worth checking out the others. I found Maia's character arc particularly satisfying.

[netgirl_y2k]

The end of the series was narratively satisfying but politically annoying.

I really enjoyed the Small Change Trilogy, but, yes, that. That was the niggle I had that I'd never been able to fully articulate.

I'm a fan of Jo Walton's too, but the book of hers, for me, that none of her others have been able to hold a candle to was Tooth & Claw.

[frayadjacent]

Yeah, I was a bit prone to grumpiness with the "The Queen saves the day" (though I realise that's an oversimplification -- the protests etc were an important part of the story as well) ending. I'd just read her short essay about Terry Bisson's utopian alternate history novel Fire on the Mountain, which is one of my favourite books, calling it naive (among a lot of praise, to be fair). There are aspects of the book where there's an argument to be made for naivete, but since she didn't really discuss it, it kinda rubbed me the wrong way, particularly in combination with this particular plot choice.

It was down to Tooth and Claw or My Real Children when I was choosing my next book, but Tooth and Claw was checked out! I have to admit I'm a little worried about the squick factor, but since her other books have not been very explicit in their violence/gore I think it'll be OK for me.

Have you read her early fantasy trilogy (The Kings Peace etc)?

[netgirl_y2k]

I read My Real Children in a single sitting pretty much without looking up, so, you know, I heartily endorse that one too. And if I'm recalling correctly Tooth & Claw leaned pretty heavily into its faux-recency tone and wasn't really gorey at all.

I started her fantasy trilogy, because lady knights are very much my thing, but The King's Peace opens with a pretty graphic gang rape which soured me on the whole thing and I noped out pretty quickly.

[frayadjacent]

Oh, eesh, good to know!

[luzula]

I started her fantasy trilogy, because lady knights are very much my thing, but The King's Peace opens with a pretty graphic gang rape which soured me on the whole thing and I noped out pretty quickly.

I actually think the aftermath of the rape is handled really well, especially the long-term aftermath with how she interacts with the guy who gets away after the rape. If you get past that scene there's no sexual violence in the rest of the book. But fair enough, if you don't want to read about rape at all I can see noping out.

[luzula]

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

I'm glad you liked that; I'd just put it on my list of books to check out.

And I'm glad you're on a Walton kick, too! I agree about the end of the Small Change trilogy--I found it politically unsatisfying, too. About the same thing happening in the Just City trilogy, I assume you're talking about the robots? Hmm. It didn't strike me at the time, but yes, there's a parallell. I think the reason it didn't ping me is that those books are all about questioning the way society should be. I'll keep an eye out for it in her future books.

I love Among Others, too, but my other favorite Walton books are The King's Peace and The King's Name. I reread them recently. Just in case you want to go ahead and read all the Walton at once. *g*

[frayadjacent]

I struggled a little with Six Wakes at the beginning, because I'd just come off Among Others, which I loved so much, and I found the prose in Six Wakes to be lacking in comparison. But after I settled into it I enjoyed it, and, as I said before, it became a much bigger, more ambitious story than I'd expected, in a way that worked well for me.

You know, when the Workers' rights stuff came up in the Just City triology, I thought to myself, "this is the only scenario where this sort of thing works for me." Because the humans of the Just City were genuinely committed to creating a, well, Just City, problematic and fallible as that could be. Like you said, all the characters were interested in questioning society. So I was OK with it in isolation. But then, I read Walton's short essay about Terry Bisson's utopian alternate history novel Fire on the Mountain, which is one of my favourite books, calling it naive (among a lot of praise, to be fair). There are aspects of the book where there's an argument to be made for naivete, but since she didn't really discuss it, it kinda rubbed me the wrong way, particularly in combination with the aforementioned plot choice in the Small Change trilogy.

By the way, I highly recommend Fire on the Mountain if you haven't read it yet, and can get ahold of it!

Thank you for the links to those re-read posts on The King's Peace etc. I'm way behind on my DW reading as well as posting, so I had missed those. I had just been wondering if I wanted to try them out, I thought maybe since they were her first books, and since they're in a genre I'm a little less interested in, I might skip them. But your posts make them sound very appealing.

[luzula]

Fire on the Mountain has been on my to-read list for a while, definitely! Although I keep completing it in my head with "...shall wake the harp of gold." *facepalm*

Thank you for the links to those re-read posts on The King's Peace etc.

Oh, maybe I should say that I didn't like The Prize in the Game as much. It's a spin-off from The King's Peace and The King's Name and it is quite skippable.

I love that Walton is so prolific-she's coming out with a short story collection early next year, and then another novel next fall.

[wendelah1]

I love using my library. Unless I can't get a book through the library, I won't purchase.

[jesse_the_k]

I usually only purchase a print book if I've loved it at the library and want to loan it to friends.

I'm technically capable of stripping DRM and loaning ebooks, but feel queasy about doing so (I was a software publisher in an earlier life).

[wendelah1]

I'm technically capable of stripping DRM and loaning ebooks, but feel queasy about doing so (I was a software publisher in an earlier life).

Yeah, I wouldn't feel good about it either. Unless someone was too poor to buy their own and had no access to a decent library, that's probably best avoided.

[frayadjacent]

Yeah, but I really wish that there was a good way to just loan e-books the same way I'd loan a printed book. I'd be fine with not having access to the book myself while it's on loan.

Anyway, jesse_the_k's approach is what I'm working toward. I want the print books that I own to be my very favourite books, that I keep so that I can loan them to others or because I want to look at them, e.g. the illustrated Harry Potter books, or because they're out of print. (I don't have access to a good library for print books so the only library books I can get right now are e-books.)

Thank you

[jesse_the_k]

You have neatly identified my disquiet with Walton's Necessity and Small Change trilogies.

Re: Thank you

[frayadjacent]

Ha! Glad I'm not the only one. :)

[jazzfish]

I was all set to say "yeah, whatever, illustrated earthsea, give me the woodcuts in the original any day," and then I saw that they've got Charles Vess on it. That ... is likely to change my mind.

And yeah, Redshirts is good but not great. Among Others is classic, though.

[frayadjacent]

I had to google image search for those woodcuts, and yeah, they are gorgeous. I never owned any editions with those on the cover -- I had a mix of different printings -- but they did look familiar, so I wonder if there were woodcut illustrations on the chapter headings of the editions I owned? I don't remember.

My favourite might in fact be the David Lupton illustrated edition, but as far as I know that was only done for the first book, and I'd want the whole series.

[kay_brooke]

I attribute the massive rise in my reading productivity this year to being able to get e-books from the library. It's so easy!

I've read The Just City and I remember liking it; I need to find the other two books.

[frayadjacent]

It's fantastic! I love how quickly I can just get the next thing I want to read. As long as it isn't too old to be on e-book, or so new that it's got masses of holds on it, anyway. :)

[dragonyphoenix]

I did enjoy Redshirts but I'm not a Scalzi fan in general. The first book I read of his was Old Man's War and it didn't impress me. I doubt I'd have tried anything else of his but the premise of Redshirts was too interesting to ignore.

I adored Among Others, the first of Walton's books that I tried, and My Real Children. I did read her Thessaly series but wasn't all that thrilled with it. I think I took a look at Farthing but wasn't interested.

[frayadjacent]

Yeah, I've been a little doubtful that I'll like Scalzi as much as many other people seem to. But I do plan to read at least one other novel of his before I decide for sure.

I liked Farthing and its sequels quite a lot, not as much as Among Others, but I also mostly enjoyed the Thessaly series so YMMV.

Off topic: I recognize your user name from livejournal! I'm glad you're active here -- love seeing more BtVS people around.