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books read: 2021 mar-apr
It's May now, and I don't know if I need time to hurry up or slow down. Work continues apace. I've discovered kpop's OnlyOneOf and enjoyed their MVs and choreo vids a lot. Caught up through S9 of Letterkenny. Anything else? Hockey, of course, and lots of reading.
- Two Corinthians by Carola Dunn - A silly regency romance about two handsome monied young men looking for love and, naturally, courting the wrong sister while having natural affinity for the other. Light and fluffy, nothing too aggravating that I recall. Someone asked if the title was meant to be a poke at Trump's unfamiliarity with the Bible which made me laugh. (Obviously not.)
- Hollowpox by Jessica Townsend - Third in the series and still quite a good world! The scary inexplicable pandemic and lockdown, the secret learning through time and encountering/liking the young version of your world's greatest dark wizard -- well, it definitely had shades of HP, along with uncomfortable accidental calls to our current pandemic. Morrigan is a great character but the more I read, the more I'm positive this is the origin story to the world's next greatest dark wizard. She convinces herself she's not like Ezra because she has friends/will make different choices, but uh, the time hops kinda showed he had friends too? We'll see where this goes.
- The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers - From a coworker, my first Peter Wimsey novel (I don't think Gaudy Night counts since that was 99.5% Harriet Vane). It was fine! I learned a lot about church bell-ringing and skipped even more, but I liked the mystery and little village of characters. I will eventually go check out some other Peter Wimsey mysteries.
- Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit - I think I'd read her initial "men explain things to me" essay! But this a great collection of additional essays on feminism; she's a very good writer.
- City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett - Final book of the trilogy and from Sigrud's POV. It was cool to see how things that had been introduced or mentioned in the past couple books all come together, and yet it still surprised me a bit. I'm glad the author isn't afraid of large time skips between the books, so we can see the progress and the change in the world alongside the characters, to a degree. The ending and emotional journey (catharsis?) was excellent.
- Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo - Translated from Korean, shorter than expected, and good but in a frustratingly exhausting way? To be reminded of the state of "gender equality" these days, especially in the workplace, in contemporary Korea. Well, in modern East Asian countries in general (also thinking about the cdrama A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower). The family/in-law dynamics and cultural traditions and expectations in particular weighed on me -- how much the woman is expected to leave behind her own family and join her husband's, which then always takes precedence. The ending though, somehow both expected and yet hit like a punch.
- Arabella by Georgette Heyer - A delightful reread/comedy of manners. Maybe the next one will be Frederica.
- Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark - Historical fantasy/sci-fi rooted in Black U.S. history, with horror notes. Zombies! I don't know how to describe this novella exactly except that it wasn't my usual fare but I wanted to give it a try based on some recs, and I really do like Clark's imaginative writing and the integration of so many different bits of history that aren't usually used or addressed in typical Western fantasy.
- Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan - A pastoral fable set in a tiny Armenian town focused on elderly folks. Translated from Russian, I believe. I liked it! I like learning about other areas of the world through books and a slow-moving look at a small village and its people, its interpersonal relationships, because it tells a lot more than just an info dump of wars and historical facts. Not everyone was likeable, but by the end you kind of are rooting for everyone, who are just getting by together as time marches relentlessly forward.
- When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo - A sequel to The Empress of Salt and Fortune. Love storytelling within storytelling, so I loved this framework immediately and maybe more than the first one. It's a little more straightforward in its tale, but perhaps I just love war mammoths and tigers who turn into women who can still eat you at any moment.
- Headstrong by Eden Finley - Same universe as some of Sarina Bowen's m/f works set in Vermont (as well as her m/m Roommate), but focused on dudes finding love through the gay bookshop/wine bar in downtown Burlington. This was ostensibly a straight bartender teaching a gay hockey player how to flirt, and you know it doesn't end that way, but everyone's gotta work through their issues first. It was cute. I really enjoyed that the hockey player had some skill but genuinely didn't dream of a hockey career, and he actually loved his family and farm, when it's a common trope for someone to be longing to get away from their family expectations and pursue something far away.
- A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djeli Clark - A free short story online set in an alternate history of Cairo with magic! Djinns! Steampunk tech! With a female investigator who likes English suits. Loved the worldbuilding here and the creepy "angels" and magic; looking forward to exploring more of the world in Clark's first novel set in this world, A Master of Djinn.
- Princess Academy by Shannon Hale - This won a Newberry Medal and yet somehow I missed it entirely when I was a kid? The title absolutely evoked some kind of frippery finishing school shenanigans, but the story itself is actually so different and so good. Another tiny village in the mountains, which very much reminded me of Three Apples except with young kids around in this one. And the royalty and kingdom all feel very distant, as it is much more a story about this tiny remote village and land that Miri loves so much. I like how she starts with assumptions about the other girls and slowly makes friends with some and, well, doesn't become friends with everyone but does better understand them. I liked the romance in this one as they convincingly were friends already moving toward those feelings, but Miri's adventures got in the way, and yay education and trade/not being taken advantage of? I'll get to the sequels eventually.
- Beartown by Fredrik Backman - Oh man, this came by a rec via /r/hockey of all places, though they were recommending the Amazon adaptation. Sorry, I don't watch things. But the book had fantastic reviews and, like I said, I like to learn about places via books about their small towns and interpersonal relationships. And this was that, for a tiny remote town in Sweden that is struggling economically, and pinning all their hopes on their youth hockey team. And it covered so many perspectives of adults and kids in that town, plus all their interwoven lives and histories, and it is so human and good and devastating -- because you know from the get-go there's some kind of tragedy. And you spend a lot of time waiting to get there. There's a sexual assault, and then you see how it splits people into factions, and it is so agonizing, honestly, to see some of the things I absolutely hate most about sports culture (and hockey culture specifically) and what it brings out in human nature. So well written, I'm absolutely reading the sequel as well as Backman's other works, but I need an emotional breather after this book.
- The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart - I think the last of the series because it sort of wraps up with everyone in a good place! And that is fine, it was a good adventure. I liked these kids and their different strengths that complemented each other; you could see where they'd learned from past adventures, and where they were still being impulsive and, well, by dint of the plot things were going to happen to them because they needed to happen. As always, a good balance of kids saving themselves and relying on adults with more power/skill/whatever to also save them. Teach those kids to rely on adults when appropriate! Constance is a brat but I love her.
- Pistols for Two by Georgette Heyer - I had no idea this was actually a collection of Regency short stories, but what a delight! They all read like the background stories that would be gossip in another of her main novels, such as two young suitors fighting a duel over a girl they knew from childhood -- all without knowing she had already had her Grand Romance with a great lord, or whatever. Or a young mother who thinks this attractive early in his 30s is courting her teen daughter but it turns out he's actually been courting her. Just fluffy and feel good, really, all fun.
- Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine - Poetry! I don't frequently do it, but this came on a rec and was -- beautiful, hard? Specifically on the issue of microaggressions, and the numerous, endless ways they took shape, took a toll. Some of it was relatable; some of it was not, and not meant to be, but was illuminating.
- Ten Lessons of a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria - Got the book through work as we hosted Fareed Zakaria for a program, and also got a signed bookplate. Fine? The lessons were optimistic about how we could take this opportunity to rethink, reimagine, and reframe the world going forward rather than going "back to normal". I agreed with some of his assessments, but thought he was being unrealistic about the entrenched incentives in the current systems. There is an opportunity here, sure, but will we take it? Press X to doubt in many cases. But it was actually a pretty quick read, about 2 chapters each sitting, and I didn't mind it but also...thinking back to it now, I can't remember a single specific one?
- Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots - A fun one! Found the rec in, of all places, Ask A Manager -- I guess it is about the drudgery of Excel spreadsheets and basic worklife survival, except your work happens to be as the henchman to the greatest supervillain. It took a while for me to get into it, as the beginning was kind of rough, but once Anna actually starts her supervillain sidekick job it picks up. She rises through the ranks! She develops interpersonal relationships! And that's the interesting part, as it always is. Plus a critical look at how much superheroes suck, partly from the perspective of villains, sure, but also this particular superhero did suck. I'm not sure if the author was trying to go for a feminist vibe -- I kinda got that feel, but it was also kind of undercut by the fact that this story is essentially "meh supervillain driven to success solely by the hypercompetent female sidekick in love with him".
- Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome - I had originally been looking for the Connie Willis sci-fi time travel tale, but hell, I'll take a humorous travel account by three British lads who are truly more inept at life (and travel) than they are aware of. I probably need a better understanding of English countryside, or the Thames, to better appreciate the descriptions of scenery though.
- Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas - A Victorian romance with arranged marriage! It had such beautiful emotional pining and h/c, where the heroine loves her husband but he was forced into this marriage and loves someone else. But over the years you see them legitimately build a real friendship and partnership, and he slowly falls in love with her too, all the while believing she is in love someone else from before the marriage. Delicious and sweet, with a sex scene that felt earned after a slow burn, that fit the plot, that wasn't gratuitous and too early in the relationship. Very nice.
- The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden - The end of the trilogy and when I reflect on it, this book packed so many plot points into it? Ridiculous. The war, then Vitya's witchy skills and heritage, plus the relationship with Morozko, plus the future... It went by fast because everything kept moving, anyway, and I think I largely enjoyed it.
- Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid - A reread. It's so good. I want endless Ilya and Shane, but she refuses to write two hockey players together again; it's just pairings I have no interest in, sigh. Hockey rivalry evolving into friendship into feelings, all the while with hot sex? Yes. I'd love her take on teammates evolving from friends who are closeted into something more and navigating that minefield, but that's a tough subject and probably ain't gonna happen.
- Dear America: Notes from an Undocumented Immigrant by Jose Antonio Vargas - Tough subjects but I'm really glad to explore them through the author's personal experiences. I'm also glad I had the additional context of Filipino immigration and remittance culture through Jason DeParle's A Good Immigrant is One Who Leaves. Vargas' stories are vital for sharing; his writing is (as he acknowledges) not his strength. I liked his dissatisfaction with the black and white binary of race discussions in America, his criticism from both activists and Fox News for representing an issue he never wanted to be a representative of, but was simply his life. It's so complicated and we often forget these are real people's lives, not just a political issue.
- Call Them by Their True Names by Rebecca Solnit - More recent essays, mostly written in the midst of the Trump administration. Wild in some ways to read them later with hindsight of what happened after. A few particularly struck me so I found the online versions: one on the use of anger, and one the necessity of hope. She's just such a good writer.
- The Roommate by Rosie Danan - A very popular chicklit book I'd been on the waitlist at the library for about six months. The thing is...it's not anything particularly new or groundbreaking? I found it very by-the-numbers, though it was well written enough and I was rooting for the couple. It's a good girl who's always followed the rules finally breaking those rules, meeting a bad boy who happens to have a heart of gold. She changes him and helps him feels emotions, also grows herself, they have a mild conflict, and of course they end up happy together. It was sweet! The only thing was that he happened to be a porn star. And of course that just meant he was hot and good at pleasuring women, i.e., her. Everything worked out nicely and neatly.
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I loooved the Divine Cities. Basically catnip for many of my favourite tropes.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo was a rough read, especially highlighted by the clinical prose.
Interesting, that the pornstar is automatically good at pleasuring women, because uh. Also unless he was doing porn for women, most straight porn guys are... not there for their face.
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Also I wish I had more Heyer-like authors to read! Joan Smith, Carola Dunn, and Barbara Metzger have hit some similarities, but not all their works fit the bill.
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I still haven't read any Heyer but perhaps I should change that... but so many to choose from!