Books read in April
May. 4th, 2020 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnI read books in April!
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts (Racculia) - 3+ - this was a lovely book about, hm. It was pitched to me as an homage to The Westing Game, and it is, although only in superficial and deep ways. That is, superficially speaking, the main plotline is that of a "mad" billionaire who constructs an elaborate game, but very few of the details are the same. But the central themes of Westing Game -- who are we, what do we learn about ourselves from playing mad games? -- are there in spades. Recommended.
The Westing Game (Raskin, reread) - So then of course I had to reread this one. It's SO GOOD. Also there were so many bits I did not get when I read it as a kid. Like all the parts where Grace is totally dissing her daughter Turtle -- this was the first reread where I understood the bit where Grace says, "Everything I win [in the game] will go to [my other daughter] Angela, of course!" and why Turtle is (rightfully) upset.
Sam Westing is such a jerk, though. The text acknowledges that quite a lot, but I feel like it doesn't really engage with it a lot. I guess there's a sense in which it does engage with it implicitly: he ends with exactly what he wanted, his heir, but nothing else. And he rearranged people's lives, and he got the natural consequences of that as well: he got to enjoy seeing that this had results, but he didn't end up with human connection from it, as he shouldn't.
The Princess Curse(Haskell) - 4/5 - Rec fromsophia_sol. This is several fairy tales / myths entangled, which is really cool. And it's super cute, and has awesome characters, and the heroine is so cool (is she looking for true love? nah, she just wants to have her own herbarium!), and I just really liked it! I couldn't give it to my niece this year as I thought there might be too much paganism involved (may hold on to it as an option in a couple of years, though -- but ugh, it's hard to give presents to the child of evangelical parents) but I'll totally give it to my other nieces :) (mildred_of_midgard, I feel like this seems like the kind of book you would like, although I know your fiction reading is not really happening right now.)
Light Brigade (Hurley, DNF) - Hugo homework. So this was very clearly a Starship Troopers reworking, even though I hadn't read or watched ST and only really knew about it from osmosis. It was clearly supposed to be Gritty and Serious and Point Out All the Problems with Source Material. I suppose it is not Hurley's fault that I got to this at exactly a time where Gritty and Serious and Pointing Out Problems was not what I wanted to read at all. But I still can't help feeling like there's something going wrong here. I got 21% through and was like, none of these characters or relationships are compelling, I have no reason to believe any of these people are friends (besides that they say they are), nothing about this situation seems likeable, and none of this makes me want to read any more, and gosh, if there's one thing I remember about Heinlein it's that, for all his faults, he did write compellingly, so heck, I'm going to go check out the source material. Which I ended up reading most of the way through. So I feel like it had exactly the opposite effect of what was intended, somehow...
Starship Troopers (Heinlein) - 3-/5 - This is really a weird book, especially read in 2020 for the first time. I skipped many of the lectures and was skimming most of it near the end. But, like. You could see Heinlein was really enjoying himself, being all "Let's see, how can I rearrange the universe so that the right to vote can be given via military service?" (Of course he cheats! Just like in Moon is a Harsh Mistress, where the answer to "How can I rearrange the universe so that the moon can declare independence?" is "Put an omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient (practically speaking) AI on Our Heroes' side!")
There doesn't seem to really be a plot? (Maybe there's more of one than I thought? I really was skimming a lot near the end.) And Heinlein is always... interesting to read in terms of things like male gaze (boy, do I know way more than I feel I need to about his id regarding what he likes in women) but Carmen did get to be a cool pilot, so.
But the thing about Heinlein is, even when he's completely bonkers he can write and make me want to read more, and I did find his characters interesting, and even found the relationships interesting though they were at a real minimum (another weird thing about this book) -- it seems that he can imply a lot about characters' relationships in some rather didactic lines, which is surprising to me.
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts (Racculia) - 3+ - this was a lovely book about, hm. It was pitched to me as an homage to The Westing Game, and it is, although only in superficial and deep ways. That is, superficially speaking, the main plotline is that of a "mad" billionaire who constructs an elaborate game, but very few of the details are the same. But the central themes of Westing Game -- who are we, what do we learn about ourselves from playing mad games? -- are there in spades. Recommended.
The Westing Game (Raskin, reread) - So then of course I had to reread this one. It's SO GOOD. Also there were so many bits I did not get when I read it as a kid. Like all the parts where Grace is totally dissing her daughter Turtle -- this was the first reread where I understood the bit where Grace says, "Everything I win [in the game] will go to [my other daughter] Angela, of course!" and why Turtle is (rightfully) upset.
Sam Westing is such a jerk, though. The text acknowledges that quite a lot, but I feel like it doesn't really engage with it a lot. I guess there's a sense in which it does engage with it implicitly: he ends with exactly what he wanted, his heir, but nothing else. And he rearranged people's lives, and he got the natural consequences of that as well: he got to enjoy seeing that this had results, but he didn't end up with human connection from it, as he shouldn't.
The Princess Curse(Haskell) - 4/5 - Rec from
sophia_sol. This is several fairy tales / myths entangled, which is really cool. And it's super cute, and has awesome characters, and the heroine is so cool (is she looking for true love? nah, she just wants to have her own herbarium!), and I just really liked it! I couldn't give it to my niece this year as I thought there might be too much paganism involved (may hold on to it as an option in a couple of years, though -- but ugh, it's hard to give presents to the child of evangelical parents) but I'll totally give it to my other nieces :) (mildred_of_midgard, I feel like this seems like the kind of book you would like, although I know your fiction reading is not really happening right now.) Light Brigade (Hurley, DNF) - Hugo homework. So this was very clearly a Starship Troopers reworking, even though I hadn't read or watched ST and only really knew about it from osmosis. It was clearly supposed to be Gritty and Serious and Point Out All the Problems with Source Material. I suppose it is not Hurley's fault that I got to this at exactly a time where Gritty and Serious and Pointing Out Problems was not what I wanted to read at all. But I still can't help feeling like there's something going wrong here. I got 21% through and was like, none of these characters or relationships are compelling, I have no reason to believe any of these people are friends (besides that they say they are), nothing about this situation seems likeable, and none of this makes me want to read any more, and gosh, if there's one thing I remember about Heinlein it's that, for all his faults, he did write compellingly, so heck, I'm going to go check out the source material. Which I ended up reading most of the way through. So I feel like it had exactly the opposite effect of what was intended, somehow...
Starship Troopers (Heinlein) - 3-/5 - This is really a weird book, especially read in 2020 for the first time. I skipped many of the lectures and was skimming most of it near the end. But, like. You could see Heinlein was really enjoying himself, being all "Let's see, how can I rearrange the universe so that the right to vote can be given via military service?" (Of course he cheats! Just like in Moon is a Harsh Mistress, where the answer to "How can I rearrange the universe so that the moon can declare independence?" is "Put an omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient (practically speaking) AI on Our Heroes' side!")
There doesn't seem to really be a plot? (Maybe there's more of one than I thought? I really was skimming a lot near the end.) And Heinlein is always... interesting to read in terms of things like male gaze (boy, do I know way more than I feel I need to about his id regarding what he likes in women) but Carmen did get to be a cool pilot, so.
But the thing about Heinlein is, even when he's completely bonkers he can write and make me want to read more, and I did find his characters interesting, and even found the relationships interesting though they were at a real minimum (another weird thing about this book) -- it seems that he can imply a lot about characters' relationships in some rather didactic lines, which is surprising to me.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-08 01:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-05-11 04:00 am (UTC)Haha I know right?? But, yeah, I agree you wouldn't like Light Brigade at all. I have a much higher tolerance for Gritty Grimdark than you do, I think, but even so I was like "...and what's the point?" I mean, I only got 21% through so I assume there is a payoff somewhere in that next 79%, but... I'm not that motivated!
no subject
Date: 2020-05-11 01:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-05-14 04:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-05-14 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-05-16 05:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-05-16 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-05-14 11:49 pm (UTC)Thanks for the rec; I've put it on my list of things to check out. I haven't been in much of a fiction mood for the last 10 years, to be honest, but I've discovered some of my all-time favorite books in the last ten years, so I definitely still give things a try.
Because I've been limited to e-books, I was able to make a list a couple weeks ago of all the new fiction I'd read of the last 5 years, out of curiosity and my usual desire to quantify, and it turned out to be 40 books, in terms of new reads I finished. Some of which were continuations of series I was already reading, or even authors I already liked. 40 was actually kind of more than I thought, but it's still only 8 a year. I've just really been more of a non-fiction reader since leaving grad school (2010).
It caught me off guard when someone asked me in 2012 what I liked to read, and out of sheer lifelong habit I said, "Fantasy." When he then asked what authors, I stuttered, because I actually wasn't reading fantasy any more. "Never mind. These days I'm studying biology and Hebrew," I had to say. It was a very jarring moment, because it ran up against a perception of myself that I suddenly had to revise. But these days, I have to admit I'm just incredibly difficult to please when it comes to new fiction (I rely heavily on rereading old favorites), and I'd much rather be reading nonfiction. I even discovered that for light reading when my concentration is shot, memoirs, a genre in which I'd previously had *zero* interest (blame
no subject
Date: 2020-05-16 05:18 am (UTC)There's no reason you should read fiction if you prefer nonfiction! :)
no subject
Date: 2020-05-16 05:42 am (UTC)I can't say I squeed, but I definitely found that it stuck with me after I finished it, and I will be rereading it. I would have more to say, but I'd need to open the book, and I'm half asleep and trying to finish a few paragraphs of fix-it fic before bed. ;)
There's no reason you should read fiction if you prefer nonfiction! :)
No, and to my relief, I haven't felt the slightest urge to force it. I prefer preferring nonfiction? It just feels weird, because I used to be like the *most* voracious reader of fiction. I think it's a combination of things:
- I feel like I scratched that itch.
- Learning how to review works of fiction around 2010, I think led to becoming far more critical of them.
- Acquiring the ability to read far more nonfiction means I can satisfy myself much more easily with the things I always wanted to read but couldn't.
The third point is why I prefer preferring nonfiction. I think I always would have preferred nonfiction if so much of what I had access to hadn't been so over my head. It's exactly like the way I feel like I played as a kid only for lack of better options; I would have preferred books, computers, and formal lessons, but toys were what I had, until around age 10. Then I suddenly acquired access to more books around the time I had developed the ability to read them, or at least get something out of them, which meant I could spend my time more satisfactorily.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-18 03:22 am (UTC)