Books I read in August
Sep. 2nd, 2020 10:23 pm...I reread Madeleine L'Engle, and that was pretty much it :P (Well, also have been reading for German book club, but that discussion is in the Frederick the Great threads. After a month of Duolingo, I can read German on the level of a six-year-old! :D But not very well at all on the level of a twelve-year-old writing on the level of an eight-year-old, and definitely not on the level of a precocious ten-year-old :PP)
-Meet the Austins - actually this was in July, as I was rereading it as a potential birthday present for a kid who doesn't read fantasy (not the niece for whom I was asking for recs before). The Austins are just such a nice family! I used to read about them and think, "I wish my family was like that!" Now I read it and think, "I wish I could parent like that!" I mean, it's clearly aged, some parts better than others, but it's still charming.
-A Small Rain - Book 1 of Katherine Forrester (later Vigneras). L'Engle's first book. It's one of those books that sort of ambles along and shows Katherine growing up, but besides this doesn't have a huge amount of plot. I like it. There is some sexual harassment and a death I totally did not remember from when I read it as a kid. Justin Vigneras, her piano teacher whom she has a crush on (and who, in book 2, we find out she later married) does not come off super well in this book, and I think he was retconned a bit in Wasp.
-A Severed Wasp - Book 2 of Katherine Forrester Vigneras. You can tell this was written much later in L'Engle's career -- this is a much more focused book, with an actual plot, lots of interesting characters, some really interesting things to say about career and family relationships, etc. And it's very cool to see Suzy (previously Austin) and Dave Davidson again and see their kids, and now I'm wondering if I should ask for fic about the two of them for Yuletide; how did that happen, anyway? I also really admire how Katherine feels like a very different character from the Katherine of Rain, and yet from the flashbacks (where she is a much more similar character to that of Rain) we get an idea how she became the Katherine of the present day. I also really like the descriptions of Katherine and her music, and Katherine and her family, and how you build a life with these things. I really enjoyed so much of this book -- up until the ending. The last time I read this was many years ago, so while I remembered who the antagonist was (and had a good time picking up all the little hints I'd missed the first time through -- she really does do a good job of setting it up), I didn't remember very much at all about how it played out.
( And then: OH L'ENGLE NO. Plot-heavy spoilers and content note for (relatively mild) sexual abuse )
I still liked this book a lot, it does a number of really interesting things before the ending, and to be fair it came out before all the clergy scandals and coverups we've all lived through now, but wooooooow, if I were to recommend this to any other people I'd have to super warn them about that ending. (ETA: Also![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rymenhild reminded me I didn't mention the romantic!Nazi WTF at all! Yeah, there is also romantic!Nazi WTF that I did remember and mostly skimmed/skipped on this reading.)
-Meet the Austins - actually this was in July, as I was rereading it as a potential birthday present for a kid who doesn't read fantasy (not the niece for whom I was asking for recs before). The Austins are just such a nice family! I used to read about them and think, "I wish my family was like that!" Now I read it and think, "I wish I could parent like that!" I mean, it's clearly aged, some parts better than others, but it's still charming.
-A Small Rain - Book 1 of Katherine Forrester (later Vigneras). L'Engle's first book. It's one of those books that sort of ambles along and shows Katherine growing up, but besides this doesn't have a huge amount of plot. I like it. There is some sexual harassment and a death I totally did not remember from when I read it as a kid. Justin Vigneras, her piano teacher whom she has a crush on (and who, in book 2, we find out she later married) does not come off super well in this book, and I think he was retconned a bit in Wasp.
-A Severed Wasp - Book 2 of Katherine Forrester Vigneras. You can tell this was written much later in L'Engle's career -- this is a much more focused book, with an actual plot, lots of interesting characters, some really interesting things to say about career and family relationships, etc. And it's very cool to see Suzy (previously Austin) and Dave Davidson again and see their kids, and now I'm wondering if I should ask for fic about the two of them for Yuletide; how did that happen, anyway? I also really admire how Katherine feels like a very different character from the Katherine of Rain, and yet from the flashbacks (where she is a much more similar character to that of Rain) we get an idea how she became the Katherine of the present day. I also really like the descriptions of Katherine and her music, and Katherine and her family, and how you build a life with these things. I really enjoyed so much of this book -- up until the ending. The last time I read this was many years ago, so while I remembered who the antagonist was (and had a good time picking up all the little hints I'd missed the first time through -- she really does do a good job of setting it up), I didn't remember very much at all about how it played out.
( And then: OH L'ENGLE NO. Plot-heavy spoilers and content note for (relatively mild) sexual abuse )
I still liked this book a lot, it does a number of really interesting things before the ending, and to be fair it came out before all the clergy scandals and coverups we've all lived through now, but wooooooow, if I were to recommend this to any other people I'd have to super warn them about that ending. (ETA: Also
rymenhild reminded me I didn't mention the romantic!Nazi WTF at all! Yeah, there is also romantic!Nazi WTF that I did remember and mostly skimmed/skipped on this reading.)
