Bookwormish, 2nd quarter of 2020
Jul. 2nd, 2020 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starfishstarUgggggh, I had completed my descriptions of all but the very last book on this list... And then my browser crashed and I lost everything. (I ALWAYS draft these posts in Word first, and then edit and tweak them endlessly before posting. This is the ONE TIME I made myself try writing it directly into a Dreamwidth post, in an attempt to be more succinct and just post it right away for once. And then of course this happened. Ugggggh.)
So maybe, as I'm faced with the slog of recreating something I'd already written in great and loving detail...maybe this time I WILL actually manage to be succinct. :-)
VERY TOP BOOK
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta – A beautiful, powerful coming of age novel, told in verse, by a poet. The character (and the author) is of Greek Cypriot and Jamaican descent, navigating race and class and gender and sexuality, while finding his own identity.
MORE TOP BOOKS
We the Animals by Justin Torres – Also a powerful semi-autobiographical novel told in verse! I don’t even think of myself as particularly fan of novels-in-verse, but when they’re good, they’re really good. This one is set in upstate New York, about three brothers growing up practically unparented by their loving but deeply incapable parents.
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo – …And it’s another novel-in-verse. I may have to revise my opinion! This is by the fantastic Elizabeth Acevedo (who seems to churn out a deep, powerful, thoughtful novel every year???) and it's about two half-sisters cautiously building a connection after the traumatic loss of their shared father.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore – One of those books I can never be objective about, because I read it at such a formative time. Thought it would be fun to reread it by trying out the audiobook of it, and once I got used to the full-cast recording, it was.
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers – I’d forgotten how great the dynamics between Harriet and Peter are here; how they’re both very much drawn to each other already, but trauma and unequal footing kept pushing them back apart.
EVEN MORE GOOD BOOKS
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo – The always wonderful Kate DiCamillo! This is sort of The Velveteen Rabbit, but about learning empathy.
New Kid by Jerry Craft – Graphic novel; a year-in-the-life of a boy who is suddenly switched from his Washington Heights school to a fancy (and mostly white) private school, and the microaggressions he experiences, but also the friendships he forms.
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – This series has a bit more graphic violence than I can comfortably stomach, but overall a satisfying conclusion to the arcs begun in Six of Crows.
We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan – From the author of the delightful modern-Cyrano-retelling We Are the Perfect Girl. This is sort of a high school whodunit, and reminded me a bit of The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis – For much of the book, it’s just a fun story about a boy growing up in Flint, Michigan, in the 60s, a son of the Great Migration. But it turns moving in the latter part of the book, when the family experiences a trauma, and the main character is helped to recover by an unexpected secondary character.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman – Ummm, I am divided about this book. On the one hand, it’s great storytelling and kept me engaged all the way through. On the other, I’m concerned about where Pullman is taking this. I wrote at greater length about this in the first draft, and can’t bring myself to recreate all that, but basically: [SPOILERS FOLLOW] He sets up a dichotomy between “imagination” and “rationality” – Lyra has fallen in with a disaffected, rabidly pro-rationality set and is cold and unhappy as a result; she won’t be happy until she rediscovers her imagination. Which, I mean, I can get behind a text that promotes imagination! I’m a writer and an avid lover of the arts, of course I believe in the power of imagination. But the way it's presented is with imagination (and by extension emotion) as explicitly the opposite of reason… That feels surprisingly anti-science, and in fact dangerous in these current times we’re living in. So I’m wary of where Pullman is going with this theme. Also [FURTHER SPOILER] in this book there’s a sexual assault that’s horrible, detailed, and utterly unnecessary. It feels like the shock-value thing of a much lesser (male) writer. I expected better of the usually marvelous Philip Pullman. (I had MUCH more to say about this in the first draft of this, but can’t bring myself to write it all again. Would be interested to discuss with anyone, though!)
The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston – A fun follow-up to Geekerella, the Cinderella retelling set in the world of fandom and cons and cosplay, but this time with queer romance and some interesting thoughts about fame and identity.
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer – I was very meh about the first couple books in this series, but actually quite enjoyed the latest couple books. But because my opinion was so strongly shaped by my first impression, I keep forgetting that I do now enjoy this series, and thus keep not getting around to reading the final book. But I will, if only to be able to comment properly on Holmestice fics. :-)
The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers – This is most people’s least favorite in the series because it mostly consists of the characters quoting train timetables at each other at great length; I actually don’t mind that aspect as much, but it’s indeed frustrating that Peter barely exists as a character here. The whole story could as easily exist without him, with any other “clever detective” stock character stepping in to fill the role. I listened to the audiobook, though, so I got to hear all the Scottish accents and it was delightful! I miss Scotland.
Harry Potter og viskusteininn by J.K. Rowling, translated into Icelandic by Helga Haraldsdóttir – Yes, Harry Potter in Icelandic! From back at the start of the pandemic, when the JKR publicity machine offered the first HP book for free online, in all forms and all languages. I listened to the audiobook and I wouldn’t say I understood much, obviously, but I know juuust enough Icelandic vocabulary that I pretty much always knew where I was in the book. (Oh, this is Dudley complaining about the number of birthday presents he got… That’s Harry talking to the snake…) It was fun!
This is probably also a good place to mention that I’m deeply, utterly aware that J.K. Rowling becomes a more problematic (and transphobic) (not to mention if-not-exactly-racist-then-definitely-clueless-that-racist-impact-is-real-even-if-unintentional) public figure every time she opens her mouth. I love the world created in the Harry Potter books and probably always will, but I 100% support the people who are questioning and challenging JKR herself. A whole generation grew up learning empathy from the Harry Potter books, and they absolutely deserve to expect better from the person behind the books.
<3
/End rant, and also /end this quarter’s bookwormish post! Yesterday was July 1, and for some reason this was the first time it hit me that July 1 means halfway through the year. End of the first six months, start of the second six months. We are halfway through this baffling, terrible, indescribable plague-and-crumbling-of-democracy year. It feels both endless and strangely fast, like a lifetime’s worth of stuff happened in mere months, but also we’ve somehow rushed all the way to the halfway point. I don’t know. I don’t know.
.
So maybe, as I'm faced with the slog of recreating something I'd already written in great and loving detail...maybe this time I WILL actually manage to be succinct. :-)
VERY TOP BOOK
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta – A beautiful, powerful coming of age novel, told in verse, by a poet. The character (and the author) is of Greek Cypriot and Jamaican descent, navigating race and class and gender and sexuality, while finding his own identity.
MORE TOP BOOKS
We the Animals by Justin Torres – Also a powerful semi-autobiographical novel told in verse! I don’t even think of myself as particularly fan of novels-in-verse, but when they’re good, they’re really good. This one is set in upstate New York, about three brothers growing up practically unparented by their loving but deeply incapable parents.
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo – …And it’s another novel-in-verse. I may have to revise my opinion! This is by the fantastic Elizabeth Acevedo (who seems to churn out a deep, powerful, thoughtful novel every year???) and it's about two half-sisters cautiously building a connection after the traumatic loss of their shared father.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore – One of those books I can never be objective about, because I read it at such a formative time. Thought it would be fun to reread it by trying out the audiobook of it, and once I got used to the full-cast recording, it was.
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers – I’d forgotten how great the dynamics between Harriet and Peter are here; how they’re both very much drawn to each other already, but trauma and unequal footing kept pushing them back apart.
EVEN MORE GOOD BOOKS
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo – The always wonderful Kate DiCamillo! This is sort of The Velveteen Rabbit, but about learning empathy.
New Kid by Jerry Craft – Graphic novel; a year-in-the-life of a boy who is suddenly switched from his Washington Heights school to a fancy (and mostly white) private school, and the microaggressions he experiences, but also the friendships he forms.
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – This series has a bit more graphic violence than I can comfortably stomach, but overall a satisfying conclusion to the arcs begun in Six of Crows.
We Regret to Inform You by Ariel Kaplan – From the author of the delightful modern-Cyrano-retelling We Are the Perfect Girl. This is sort of a high school whodunit, and reminded me a bit of The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis – For much of the book, it’s just a fun story about a boy growing up in Flint, Michigan, in the 60s, a son of the Great Migration. But it turns moving in the latter part of the book, when the family experiences a trauma, and the main character is helped to recover by an unexpected secondary character.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman – Ummm, I am divided about this book. On the one hand, it’s great storytelling and kept me engaged all the way through. On the other, I’m concerned about where Pullman is taking this. I wrote at greater length about this in the first draft, and can’t bring myself to recreate all that, but basically: [SPOILERS FOLLOW] He sets up a dichotomy between “imagination” and “rationality” – Lyra has fallen in with a disaffected, rabidly pro-rationality set and is cold and unhappy as a result; she won’t be happy until she rediscovers her imagination. Which, I mean, I can get behind a text that promotes imagination! I’m a writer and an avid lover of the arts, of course I believe in the power of imagination. But the way it's presented is with imagination (and by extension emotion) as explicitly the opposite of reason… That feels surprisingly anti-science, and in fact dangerous in these current times we’re living in. So I’m wary of where Pullman is going with this theme. Also [FURTHER SPOILER] in this book there’s a sexual assault that’s horrible, detailed, and utterly unnecessary. It feels like the shock-value thing of a much lesser (male) writer. I expected better of the usually marvelous Philip Pullman. (I had MUCH more to say about this in the first draft of this, but can’t bring myself to write it all again. Would be interested to discuss with anyone, though!)
The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston – A fun follow-up to Geekerella, the Cinderella retelling set in the world of fandom and cons and cosplay, but this time with queer romance and some interesting thoughts about fame and identity.
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer – I was very meh about the first couple books in this series, but actually quite enjoyed the latest couple books. But because my opinion was so strongly shaped by my first impression, I keep forgetting that I do now enjoy this series, and thus keep not getting around to reading the final book. But I will, if only to be able to comment properly on Holmestice fics. :-)
The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers – This is most people’s least favorite in the series because it mostly consists of the characters quoting train timetables at each other at great length; I actually don’t mind that aspect as much, but it’s indeed frustrating that Peter barely exists as a character here. The whole story could as easily exist without him, with any other “clever detective” stock character stepping in to fill the role. I listened to the audiobook, though, so I got to hear all the Scottish accents and it was delightful! I miss Scotland.
Harry Potter og viskusteininn by J.K. Rowling, translated into Icelandic by Helga Haraldsdóttir – Yes, Harry Potter in Icelandic! From back at the start of the pandemic, when the JKR publicity machine offered the first HP book for free online, in all forms and all languages. I listened to the audiobook and I wouldn’t say I understood much, obviously, but I know juuust enough Icelandic vocabulary that I pretty much always knew where I was in the book. (Oh, this is Dudley complaining about the number of birthday presents he got… That’s Harry talking to the snake…) It was fun!
This is probably also a good place to mention that I’m deeply, utterly aware that J.K. Rowling becomes a more problematic (and transphobic) (not to mention if-not-exactly-racist-then-definitely-clueless-that-racist-impact-is-real-even-if-unintentional) public figure every time she opens her mouth. I love the world created in the Harry Potter books and probably always will, but I 100% support the people who are questioning and challenging JKR herself. A whole generation grew up learning empathy from the Harry Potter books, and they absolutely deserve to expect better from the person behind the books.
<3
/End rant, and also /end this quarter’s bookwormish post! Yesterday was July 1, and for some reason this was the first time it hit me that July 1 means halfway through the year. End of the first six months, start of the second six months. We are halfway through this baffling, terrible, indescribable plague-and-crumbling-of-democracy year. It feels both endless and strangely fast, like a lifetime’s worth of stuff happened in mere months, but also we’ve somehow rushed all the way to the halfway point. I don’t know. I don’t know.
.
