Wednesday Reading Meme

[frayadjacent]

What did you just finish reading?

Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. I stopped halfway through because a) I liked it well enough but didn't love it, so I was reading it really slowly, which hindered my efforts to get back in the reading habit; 2) the electronic version of the third book in Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota series became available at my library. I put down a hold on it and started reading the first book in the series, Too Like the Lightning, which has been sitting on my e-reader. My loans of Too Like the Lightning, Seven Surrenders (book 2 in the series), and Ministry of Utmost Happiness have long expired -- I've put my e-reader on flight mode -- so I needed to make some choices.

I might very well get back to Ministry of Utmost Happiness. I think it's a little too slow for me right now, but the story was also going in an interesting direction, and the two characters I was most interested in (there's a third one I can't stand) were about to meet. It's funny, I don't need books with Lots Of Plot -- my favourite book last year was Among Others by Jo Walton, which is not terribly plotty, but still. I want more to...happen? Is that the same as plot? Or maybe it's just that Among Others got more in the character's head than Ministry of Utmost Happiness has so far. If anyone else has read this book I'd be interested to know your thoughts; as usual I'm struggling to put words to mine. It's funny to think that 20 years ago I thought I wanted to become an English Lit professor.

What are you reading now?

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer. I'm too early in the book to say much, but it grabbed my attention pretty quickly with the premise as I understand it, the worldbuilding that's happened so far, and the characters. The POV character is not, as far as I can tell, the primary protagonist, which is fun but a little confusing as I keep thinking that "I" refers to a different person than it actually does.

What will you read next?

Assuming I enjoy Too Like the Lightning, I'll continue the trilogy.

Free book-shaped space

I still plan to post an overview of books read in 2017, including brief takes on the books I read since my last Wednesday reading post in ... *checks books tag* September. (Actually not as far behind as I thought!)

Comments

[colls]

I know what you mean when something hinders your reading plans. Sometimes when a book drags, I find it's me and what's going on with my life and not related to the book at all. I felt that way a bit about The Bear and the Nightingale this week, although I soldiered on because it's for book club this weekend - I'm glad I did because the back half "clicked" and I was engaged with the story.
Otherwise, yeah... sometimes it's best to pick something else up and hope it grabs you.

[frith_in_thorns]

Hah, I felt like that about the entire book and only got through it because I really hate not finishing books *g*

[colls]

Oh, I hate that, too! It's rare that I'll completely abandon a book. :)

[frayadjacent]

Ha! I've gotten a lot better at abandoning books in the last year or so, though I still don't do it often. I realised my fear of feeling obligated to read a book I didn't like was keeping me from trying new authors, or even reading at all at times, so I had to decide it was OK>

[frith_in_thorns]

I still cannot decide whether I loved the two Terra Ignota books I read or if I deeply hated them. When I figure it out I'll get to the third one!

(I think there are going to be four in total?)

[frayadjacent]

Ha! I like it so far. And I just assumed it was a trilogy, oops! I'm partially disappointed because I thought I was going to read the whole thing in one go, which is always my preference. But if I end up liking the series I'll be glad for more.

[luzula]

Ministry of Utmost Happiness is on my list of books to check out, but that list is huge, so... : )

Will be interested in your thoughts on Too Like the Lightning!

[frayadjacent]

Heh. Ministry of Utmost Happiness is very political, like The God of Small Things, and also literary in the same way. I loved The God of Small Things, but that was more than 15 years ago and my tastes have changed since then. In particular my energy and attention span are not what they were when I was 20. But also I seek comfort in fiction a lot more than I used to. That doesn't require that things always be nice and happy, but it does make me want characters I can root for. And I'm ambivalent about the characters in Ministry of Utmost Happiness; the narrative seems to actively distance the reader from them emotionally (well, it does from two of the three, and I actively dislike the third). That might very well change in the second half of the book, though.

[luzula]

Well, I tend not to be into books where you can't emotionally connect to the characters, so maybe not high on the list for me, then...

[dolorosa_12]

It's so great to see so many people reading the Terra Ignota books at the moment! I'm very keen to hear what you think once you've finished the first book and/or if you read further into the series.

[frayadjacent]

What you said about Terra Ignota definitely moved it up the queue! And I do plan to post about it; it's fun to be reading something that other people are reading/have read recently as well.