starfishstar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
starfishstar) wrote2020-07-02 01:27 pm
starfishstar) wrote2020-07-02 01:27 pm
Entry tags:
Bookwormish, 2nd quarter of 2020
Ugggggh, 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.
.
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We read With the Fire On High in my YA class this spring, and it makes me want to read Clap When You Land ASAP! WtFOH was probably my favorite of the nine books we read, and I handed it on to sanguinity when I was done. So warm and bright, and I kept waiting for terrible Dramatic things to happen and they never did!
I know Graceling only via the audiobook, though I have a print copy around here somewhere. Happy memories of chopping stuff in the kitchen while listening!
With you on the mixed reaction to Secret Commonwealth. I did think he did a nice job with aged-up Lyra and Malcom, both of them having changed yet both the same people they were. I will still be avid to read the next book, but this one hasn’t really stuck in my mind much. All those spy-business conversations!
I’m reading Crooked Kingdom now, having read Six of Crows in class. Both of them went pretty slowly for me— I’m just not as enamored of the characters (Kaz especially) as some of my classmates were? And the sudden switch to breezy banter can be a little jarring sometimes.
I still have many, many library books to catch up on even though they closed down for the pandemic and have only brought holds pick-up back for the last week or two. I am not complaining. :)
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Elizabeth Acevedo: You read The Poet X, right? (I think you're even the person I first heard about it from!) That may still be my favorite of her three novels I've read, though that may be partly because of how with that book she came out of nowhere and bowled me over. But all her books are excellent, and I can't get over how she's been putting out one a YEAR. How.
Oh, interesting that you were also mixed on The Secret Commonwealth, since I remember discussing it briefly with you back when you read it – and the earlier, longer version of this post actually cited you! (Because I remember you saying how it stays engaging storytelling even though it's basically just a long parade of Lyra having conversations with different people.) I also will 99% certainly read the third book when it comes out, but I guess I wouldn't say I feel excited about it. Which is sad because I LOVE the original trilogy so much!
Six of Crows...same as you, I think, more or less. I actually found the first book highly page-turning – despite it being 500 pages and a heist story (so very much not my genre)! But, yes, from the way others had talked about the books, I'd expected Kaz to be this amazing, complex character, an "honor among thieves," outside the law but adheres even more strictly to his own moral code, and fiercely loyal and protective of his crew, kind of thing. Which he kind of is; but even more, he's just impossibly clever at being 10 steps ahead of everyone else at all times, and having backup plans within backup plans. I really felt for his struggles, and I was pleased with the point he and Inej reached by the end of the second book, but I never got that beloved antihero feeling that others seem to have.
One review I read of Six of Crows suggested the whole thing would work a lot better if the characters were in, say, their 30s instead of 17! And that's stuck in my head ever since. (Though Crooked Kingdom actually worked a bit better than Six of Crows as a book about teenagers, since there's such a theme of fathers in it.) They're all just so impossibly talented at skills that would surely take decades to acquire. I mean, I know the whole YA genre thing is that all characters basically have to be that YA-ideal age of 17, and yet act and think and handle things like adults, and also incidentally save the world. ;-) But for these characters especially, I could really see them making a lot more sense if they'd had a couple decades of acquiring the skills, but also the traumas, of Barrel life. Kaz and Inej especially, I think would work really well as two people who've been burned by life for so long, they thought they'd never be able to connect with anyone again. Rather than being (admittedly very and understandably traumatized, but) comparatively fresh-faced teenagers. :-)
My library has also reopened for holds pick-up! And of course I've already returned to my habits of placing way, way too many holds. :-)
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I am still working my way through Have His Carcase btw! It's apparently slow going. I've only been reading before bed which means about one chapter per night. What happened to my days of inhaling books in a single day? What's all this "work" bullshit in adulthood? Why can't I skip doing it the way I skipped doing all my homework? (Well, sometimes I still kinda do...)
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Ha, I was actually thinking of asking you about the Wimsey books soon, just to keep track of them. That's fine, though! I'd like Have His Carcase back sometime (so I can glance back at bits if needed, as the podcast gradually works their way through it) but for now, I actually got a library copy, so I could read it ahead of the podcast, so I'll keep that copy on hand for a bit. :-)
What is this adulthood indeed. Sigh.
ETA:
OH MY GOD!!! HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS! Kristin Cashore Expands the Graceling Realm with 'Winterkeep'
(and now I finally know why Cashore was doing all that research on tall ships... paging
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Whhaaaaatt that's so exciting about the next book! (and uh, I hope I like it a lot more than I did Bitterblue.)
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