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books, again (finally)
Apr. 30th, 2014 10:32 amIt's been a long time since I've done this, but that's mostly because my brain's been jumping all over the place and I've been a long rut of picking up books and then finding them 3 weeks later (when the auto-return email from the library sends me to go look for them.)
I have finished a few though, so onward:
What I'm Reading Now
Paris Letters, Janice MacLeod, which is... fine? Blog-turned-book of an advertising writer who figured out how much money it would take to buy a year or two in Paris and then ended up falling in love. Why, yes, I *am* having one of those RunAway!FarFarAway! months, thanks.
What I Just Finished
Longbourne, Jo Baker, which is what was going on downstairs while Pride and Prejudice was happening upstairs. I almost stopped about 3/4's of the way through, when there was a sudden flashback to fill in a character's backstory and the rest of the narrative ground to a halt, but I skimmed heavily (I know the Peninsular Wars were a hell-hole, I got the gist) and was able to pick it back up when we rejoined the present day. Other than that, it's the first P&P-inspired book I've been able to finish in years (omg, what a cottage industry P&P has turned out to be) and I did actually care about the original characters. It made me stop and think a bit about a lot of Austen's characters (especially Mrs. Bennett and Mr. Collins, though Wickham remains the epitome of sleaze.) I thought Baker walked the exceedingly fine line of making sure modern-day readers understood the realities of Regency life while not having those descriptions and thoughts seem out of place in the various narrators' voices. That sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, but I don't mean it that way--I tore through this so that even with putting it down during the flashback sequence, I still finished it in a weekend.
The Book of Legendary Lands, Umberto Eco -- Gorgeous book tracing the path of imaginary worlds (Atlantis, Mu, etc, etc) through history. Mostly Euro-centric, which was a little disappointing, but beautiful nonetheless.
Books 4-8 of Phryne Fisher's escapades in post-WWI Australia. Sorry about not having the titles, but they all blur together into one giant tangle of exquisite clothes, hunky guys for Phryne to sleep with and then leave, and a dead body or two, even while I'm reading them, but goodness, they're like tasty crack. I'm waiting for the M/M/F that I assume is still to come (we've already established that Phryne doesn't go for the ladies, but I can't see any reason why she'd object to an extra boy in her bed.)
What's Next
Z (Therese Fowler) needs to go back to the library soon, so I better give that a try...
I have finished a few though, so onward:
What I'm Reading Now
Paris Letters, Janice MacLeod, which is... fine? Blog-turned-book of an advertising writer who figured out how much money it would take to buy a year or two in Paris and then ended up falling in love. Why, yes, I *am* having one of those RunAway!FarFarAway! months, thanks.
What I Just Finished
Longbourne, Jo Baker, which is what was going on downstairs while Pride and Prejudice was happening upstairs. I almost stopped about 3/4's of the way through, when there was a sudden flashback to fill in a character's backstory and the rest of the narrative ground to a halt, but I skimmed heavily (I know the Peninsular Wars were a hell-hole, I got the gist) and was able to pick it back up when we rejoined the present day. Other than that, it's the first P&P-inspired book I've been able to finish in years (omg, what a cottage industry P&P has turned out to be) and I did actually care about the original characters. It made me stop and think a bit about a lot of Austen's characters (especially Mrs. Bennett and Mr. Collins, though Wickham remains the epitome of sleaze.) I thought Baker walked the exceedingly fine line of making sure modern-day readers understood the realities of Regency life while not having those descriptions and thoughts seem out of place in the various narrators' voices. That sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, but I don't mean it that way--I tore through this so that even with putting it down during the flashback sequence, I still finished it in a weekend.
The Book of Legendary Lands, Umberto Eco -- Gorgeous book tracing the path of imaginary worlds (Atlantis, Mu, etc, etc) through history. Mostly Euro-centric, which was a little disappointing, but beautiful nonetheless.
Books 4-8 of Phryne Fisher's escapades in post-WWI Australia. Sorry about not having the titles, but they all blur together into one giant tangle of exquisite clothes, hunky guys for Phryne to sleep with and then leave, and a dead body or two, even while I'm reading them, but goodness, they're like tasty crack. I'm waiting for the M/M/F that I assume is still to come (we've already established that Phryne doesn't go for the ladies, but I can't see any reason why she'd object to an extra boy in her bed.)
What's Next
Z (Therese Fowler) needs to go back to the library soon, so I better give that a try...
