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books, books, books: 2016 dec-2017 feb
Reading review for the past three months, because it's always nice to have a break from the shitty goings-on in the world. In between all of this was also a lot of fic. So much. Some good, some less good, but all filling time and space to get my brain away from sports (sad) and politics (sadder) and my job (the worst).
- FAKE 1-7 by Sanami Matoh - A full reread and seven volumes, in retrospect, is quite short but I'm super fond of FAKE still. I know the art put some people off back in the day (maybe still now?) but it's unique and has a certain sort of charm -- those expressive eyes! And once you get accustomed to it, going to the new art in the sequel is incredibly jarring. I'm not sure at all this is how the NYPD works, but it was nice to have that backdrop and both Dee and Ryo had their own backstories, and so did Bikky and Carol and even various villain types (okay, mostly Leo). A little bit slap-slap-kiss-kiss, but also a solid friendship and trust and respect, and the slow build and teasing. I'm always a big fan of UST, because it's more about the emotional payoff than just the physical. Good stuff.
- The Comfortable Courtesan, Vols 1 & 2 by Madame C_C - A comfortable courtesan in the Regency period shares her tales, and it is absolutely delightful. It is just pure warmth and comfort and good people and exceptionally deft language. There is f/f and m/m and polyamory and women supporting women and all sorts of great friendships and other types of relationships, but all effortlessly and seamlessly wove in context of the period, and none that feel jarring or intrusive or preachy. A mix of people of different classes, shenanigans, true friendships, true loves, plots, women of scientific minds running off for adventures on the high seas, theater, jealousies: there's a lot going on, but really the overall tone of the series (last I checked it was eight or nine volumes? I have plenty more to go) is just good people being good to each other, and you as a reader tend to root for that. It's such a feel-good series; I should try to get back to the third volume. I am so easily distracted by my never shrinking list of things to read, books or fic or original fic.
- The Gentleman by Forrest Leo - In an effort to read more books! This was billed as comedic fantasy, a Victorian poet who accidentally sold his wife to the devil and rounds up a motley crue in an effort to go rescue her. It's a trip and the main character is...well, quite a character. Self-awareness is not his strong suit, but therein lies much of the comedy. Light-hearted and pretty fun read once I really committed to the first two or three chapters.
- One Piece 76-80 by Oda Eiichiro - MY HEART. We finally wrapped up the long Dressrosa arc and Luffy got his sworn pirate brothers/sons, and we finally arrive in Zou only to find Sanji missing. It's really hard to get a good sense of the post-timeskip arc because we're not much past it (just two arcs as we go into Zou) so there are still a lot of new characters and worldbuilding and reveals that remain undiscovered. Maybe remind me in ten years when OP is finally finished to come back and binge-read. Sigh.
- The Devil in Music by Kate Ross - The last of the four Julian Kestrel mysteries, because unfortunately the author passed away. But dear god, it was so good. A deparature in storytelling narrative and tone from the first three, with a setting in Italy rather than England, and that could be a little jarring or offputting at first but the story, damn. The characters were interesting and richly drawn as always, the convoluted twists, the red herrings. I suspected the ending maybe halfway or 2/3 through? That reveal was a validating moment and the way it all tied together was nothing short of extraordinary. A very satisfying and fitting end to the series, though I am sad it is.
- Thus WAs Adnois Murdered by Sarah Caudwell - Billed as a wryly comedic mystery, I thought I'd give it a shot, especially as it features barristers (English lawyers) and taxes. It took me a bit to adjust to the storytelling, but it's definitely got that understated dry British humor, where you're not quite sure if serious. I do enjoy hearing lawyers complain about their work and the intricacies of tax code. Also a lot of good research done into art and Italy; the parts in Italy all felt very immersive (as someone who's never been to Italy).
- milk and honey by rupi kaur - Picked this up while browsing a local Houston bookstore and couldn't put it down. It's pure tumblr aesthetic poetry, but I'm doing it a disservice by describing it that way. It's got strength in its message, about femininity and sex and women and power and love and pain and recovery. It's sensual, sexual, raw, vulnerable. With accompanying illustrations.
- The Summer Palace by C.S. Pacat - The happy ending epilogue, essentially, and it was beautiful and simple and sweet and in most ways unremarkable. Sorry, I'm bad at established relationship stuff with no tension. I'm glad they got to be happy though; they deserve it. It's just not particularly interesting to me. I'll definitely reread the books and probably some fic at some later unspecified date.
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Wanted a palate cleanser from politics and fic, so a simple children's lit favorite. Alice has so many eminently quotable lines, maybe some of my all-time favorites. A quick read, a bit of total literary nonsense, and still remarkably affecting. “It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
- Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll - The Disney movie conflates these two books! This is the one with Humpty Dumpty and Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the whole chessboard metaphor. It's as quirky and nonsensical as the original book, yet also left a far less lasting impression on me. Enjoyable nonetheless.
- The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caudwell - Second of the Hilary Tamar mysteries, set fully in England this time rather than partly in Rome. I'm not sure the mystery was as interesting, but had a remarkable orgy scene detailed in the most blasé of tones. These stories seem to take place in a universe where all sexualities are accepted and unquestioned, and sometimes close female relationships are mistaken for more and that's okay, but it's also okay that they aren't really more than that. I'm down with this universe.
- England's Perfect Hero by Suzanne Enoch - This is actually the last book of three in the author's Lessons in Love series, but was recced as being atypical because the hero is not your usual growly impatient-with-the-scourge-of-the-earth rake whose overwhelming masculinity makes the heroine tremble in her dress. And I loved this, because instead he was a veteran dealing with PTSD (in a very period-appropriate way, feeling shame and anger and trying to hide it, because what were mental health services like in that day, let's be real). And hero and heroine are drawn to each other because they actually enjoy each other's companies, they feel calm and listened to, they genuinely seem to like each other rather than being driven by lust-at-first-sight. So this was a friendship that became more, which I liked a lot. Plus some familial tension and plot, and glimpses of the other two happy couples from books 1 and 2.
- London's Perfect Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch - Opposite above, this book (#2 in Lessons in Love) is literally Every Single Regency Romance Trope. She's a virgin determined to Do Good and he's the scandalous devil-may-care rake with a terrible reputation but is so handsome that all his sins of not giving a shit about other humans is forgiven. But don't worry, their lust-at-first-sight drives them together for some banter, he's never known anyone like her, she's all aflutter by his looks and touches, they give in to the sexual chemistry, she inevitably unearths the good heart hidden inside, he slowly changes to become a person worthy of her. Yeah. The message is that you can change that bad boy, because he's really good underneath it! Only in fiction, my friends. All that said, it was an enjoyable read for exactly what it was, and pretty well-written version of it.
- The Sibyl in Her Grave by Sarah Caudwell - I got mixed up and this is actually the last (book 4 of 4) of the Hilary Tamar series, but my library doesn't have book 3 anyway so I'll have to commit to buying a copy for myself if I want to read it. Most of the murder mystery happens in a little English village, so it's drawing on the cozy murder archetype and does it well, plus enough epistolary narrative to get a sense of what's going on in places where the narrator is not without being overdone. The ending was interesting, with the reveal and the choices the characters take after.
- The Rake by Suzanne Enoch - The first book in the series, it introduced the hero's family, which made him ten times more interesting. This heroine and the third's had more backbone and believable motives than the second girl, who was stubborn for no reason but pride and her family circumstance was weird and contrived, idk. Anyway, hero and heroine and a history here, which we learn about and that they have to work through, so that was...at least something a little more than merely her saving him from himself? I need outside plots and driving factors in my romance, I'm sorry! I want these characters to exist in a story, not for them and their sexual chemistry to be the entire story itself. (Maybe why Devil in Winter didn't work for me? IDK. Sometimes I bounce off the really highly-recced modern writers of regencies. Lisa Kleypas and Loretta Chase on the whole haven't been my cup of tea, but I love the older no-sex stories by Heyer and Joan Smith.)
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Going through my shelves also produced authors I haven't thought about in years: Caroline Courtney, Claire Darcy, and a few early Christina Skye.
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Joan Smith wrote so much! They start blending together for me to except for maybe five or so; I think I've talked about them in previous book review posts. Hmm, I'll have to look into some of the others you've mentioned.