![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
books read: 2021 sep-oct
It's November! HOW. But despite October being busy I did manage to read more, and here's hoping November and December provides lots of reading time since work is slower. However, I'm having lots of family visit in December (parents, brother + gf in separate trips) and am traveling for Christmas, so I don't know if that will help or not. Holiday festivities means you have to spend time with people!
- A Certain Someone by 木苏里 (Musuli) - A lovely little cnovel that originates in school about two classmates who don't get along and become effective stepsiblings, and naturally, the evolution of their relationship as they grow closer (and more codependent). They face some more real-world challenges than a lot of modern cnovels - homophobia, school interference, parental disapproval, but the third act of them growing up and living apart before finding their way back to each other - my heart. Romcom shit. A couple I can actually buy working because the story tackled them as adults who'd learned and grown as people, and not just lovesick schoolboys. Difficult translation and hard first few chapters to get through, but one of my faves.
- Whose Story is This? Old Conflicts, New Chapters by Rebecca Solnit - Her newest book of essays, from during the Trump administration. She's fantastic, and often puts feelings and thoughts and observations I've shared into words that feel like the picture or idea is finally clarified. I found a pencil and began underlining parts of her essays, which is something I have done since...school, maybe? One essay that hadn't been republished elsewhere was about our desire to seek heroes, and how instead we need to take up the work. I wish I could reprint that and distribute it.
- Miss Billings Treads the Boards by Carla Kelly - A fairly lighthearted but warm story of mistaken identities. I picked this up from a rec about non-conventionally attractive heroes and heroines in romances. The lord here is not very attractive, but he supports and respects the heroine's talents and agency not only in words but in action. That was nice. The little traveling acting troupe family was sweet thought the youngest kids were pretty much unnamed story props.
- Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone - From a rec a few years ago for feminist revenge fantasies. A fun read, as the main character deliberately slips into character to make her the perfect victim for this one guy - the most infuriating type of guy who believes he's good, entitled to women, while shaming and emotionally abusing her. It was delightful to watch her manipulate him and ruin his life. But I did enjoy Jane sort of figuring out herself and what she actually wants aside from revenge as well, but most glad that she didn't reach some bullshit "the best revenge is living well" point and absolve the guy. Ruin his damn life, Jane. And she did. Might check out the sequel.
- Instead of Three Wishes by Megan Whalen Turner - Was looking into The Queen's Thief series and wondering if there were a box set I could acquire for an easy reread of the series. Alas, not in physical books (only ebooks) - but I could buy them for cheaper off ThriftBooks perhaps. In any case, found out she wrote a book of short fairy tales! They were readable and fun and magical, though not particularly memorable.
- Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen - Considering the author is a former WSJ reporter, I wasn't sure how her fiction would turn out. But I liked it a lot! I've read a lot of Asian-influenced/inspired short stories recently (Isabel Yap, Zen Cho) and while I loved those for their SFF stories/immersion in traditional myth and lore, I genuinely think Chen's writing is sharper. Her stories are mostly set in modern/near future times in China, with a sense of absurdism that is not quite magical realism, but with just enough of the cyber dystopian vibe at times that makes sense for writing about modern day China.
- Anxious People by Fredrik Backman - A robbery goes wrong and random people at an open house are held hostage, the story is another winner from Backman (for me) that was thankfully far less stressful than Beartown and warmer. The collection of people were imperfect but not, imo, terrible and their stories are funny and moving, as always. In Backman's world (or at least this town in Sweden), everything and everyone is more connected than you think, both in time and in people. Backman, along with Frances Hardinge, is probably one of few authors who have made it to my "read everything they write, old and new" tier.
- Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho - A collection of her short stories, newly reprinted with a few additional new stories collected elsewhere. Separated into Here, There, and Elsewhere - Malaysia, UK, and magical inbetween worlds, broadly. Loved this book of hers the best and still do, including the new additions (which I'd previously read online). I don't love all of Cho's works (Sorcerer to the Crown was a struggle and a disappointment), but I think her strengths definitely lie with integrating modern day SE Asia through her works, whether in setting or characters, and in interweaving the less known SE Asian mythology in her ghost/monster stories.
- Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson - A charming fairy tale about an older spinster who finally gets to be a little daring and live out a ridiculous day - but more importantly, make some friends and fall in love. Relationships are the thing! It was lovely to see her open her mind to new experiences and perspectives, though given the setting of the story (1920s London) and time when it was written (1938), it has unfortunate racism, sexism, xenophobia, and antisemitism. But for the context in which it takes place, the characters are emphasizing the need to be openminded and openhearted, so at least those themes are nice.
- Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt - This was a great read, from a Black academic who studies and researches this stuff, and works with the law enforcement community on bias training. Really interesting perspectives. A lot of this stuff is not breaking news to people active or engaged in the issues of racism/bias, but it's nicely laid out together and always interesting to have additional context supported by the studies that were conducted. But the really interesting pars to me are how we can think about implementing change in the real world, particularly when so much bias is culturally (subconsciously, through media and family and school and more) ingrained.
- Sword Dance by AJ Demas - A little historical romance in ancient fantasy country that is uhh similar to Greece? Or is Greece? I wasn't paying that much attention. There is some background politics and forming war, but primarily about a beautiful "foreign" eunuch who is a spy, and the former soldier who is more brawn than brain but is very goodhearted... Yeah, okay, it absolutely gave me Captive Prince vibes and I enjoyed it okay, but may not end up reading the sequel. I think there are two more books in the series? There was a nice relationship dynamic but a bit secondary to the plot, and the plot and world were slightly pastede on yey.
- A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge - As I said before, everything she writes hits amazing. I will now read everything she writes. I think I'm finally up to date on her entire catalog, and hope she writes new things soon. This was set during the English Civil War but with like...soul vampires, and ghosts, but it was all still so good! Can I ever pick a fave? I just love her prose, her imagination and creativity in the worlds and characters she creates.
- Goodbye, Again by Jonny Sun - A collection of art/doodles, thoughts, poems, and short essays from an Asian American...comedian? Twitter guy? There were some raw moments where he shared frankly about his depression and the debilitating anxiety and hyperfocus on work, but the story that got me the most were the series of recipes for (tea) eggs. God. Otherwise I just...wish him a lot of therapy and healing.
- Book of Love by Erin Satie - A recently-written historical romance that is decidedly feminist. I think I picked it off a rec for beautiful but dim heroes instead of the usual dark and brooding ones. This hero is definitely more like a golden retriever. Unfortunately I think the message was too heavy-handed that the heroine was independent or strove to be, and that he needed to respect her mind, except because we knew they were going to end up together the hero couldn't actually be terrible - he was a pretty good guy, and it turned out she was the one who prejudged him. Except they were both really annoying in their own ways to me, the reader, so I didn't feel like I was actively rooting for them to get together. Whatever, it was less about the romance and more about all the historical facts that the author wanted to show off from their research. I did learn some interesting things. But it's also hard to make your message about class equality land when you get your heroine to marry a duke at the end, even if she ostensibly uses that influence for good, or whatever.
- Puck Drills and Cheap Thrills by Eden Finley & Saxon James - CU #5 and I think the final book of the series. Alas, a disappointing one. I didn't mind the age gap in theory - a 29-year-old assistant hockey coach and a 38-year-old professor. The problem is they were written to act like dumbasses 10 or more years younger, and the professor is holding grudges/trauma from high school that he is now unfairly projecting onto his current students, who were barely alive when he got bullied? Definitely not endearing me to him. The fake dating premise was thin but I'm usually okay with it if I like the characters and their relationship, but again, everyone acted like an immature dumbass and I could not believe either were functional adults with adult responsibilities.
- Karolina and the Torn Curtain by Maryla Szymickowza - Book 2 of the Zofia Turbotynska series, following Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing. Also enjoyable, mostly as a glimpse of historical Poland during this period! And we join the main character Zofia on her slow growth in understanding the world outside of her bubble, including what happens to trafficked girls and all the people and institutions who are complicit in either looking away or actively exploiting them. Also, she dabbles in socialism (for a disguise) and realizes later on that...there might be some merits, or at least the royal kingdom is maybe not all that it's cracked up to be. Her husband espouses many a sexist view that is modern for its day, supposedly, but I think the narrative does a great job of showing how silly he is.
- The Bachelor's Valet by Arden Powell - A short historical m/m story set in, uhh, 1930s UK maybe? I am bad at keeping track but there were cars, but still valets. This silly boy doesn't want to get married but his mother wants him to, but he discovers he is in love with his valet. But it's fine, his fiancée is also gay! Perfect arranged sham marriage arrangement! Very sweet and insubstantial but the slow burn was nice for one of these stories, that's usually 100mph on the attraction at first sight. The protagonist's obliviousness was very fic-like and worked in this case.
- Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach - A fun nonfiction investigation into animals breaking laws humans created and how we balance the needs of humans (for safety, for profit) with animals doing what is instinctive to them - but also learning bad habits through exposure to humans (bears and trash cans). Interesting and not dry at all! The conclusion is basically that we have to shrug and make some kind of peace with no perfect solution.
- Tommy Cabot Was Here by Cat Sebastian - Set in 1950s America, a story of dreamy schoolboy fumblings all grown up and now dealing with adult issues and relationships, and rediscovering each other as adults. Tommy's poor kid was more of a prop than I've ever seen; I'm not sure he got a speaking line! But I did like that they did sort things out at an older age. Not a lot of feeling for the setting in terms of historical era, feel, or language; all set dressing along with the kid. But the emotions were real.
- Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories by Roald Dahl - Not stories written by Dahl but compiled by him as his assessment of the best ghost stories. The thing with ghost stories is you always know the twist. But it was interesting to see how they played out and where the similarities were, and the differences. Finished on Halloween, which was appropriately timed.
no subject
The Bachelor's Valet was cute and fun. And actually committed to the idea of a lavender marriage which I thought was interesting.
I tend to enjoy Cho's short stories and novellas more than her novels. One of those reading preferences...
no subject