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Fifty books, a minor 2015 milestone
Aug. 22nd, 2015 06:06 pmRead my 50th book of this year: "Tooth and Claw" by Jo Walton. Very enjoyable – a little slow to get started, but then quite fascinating and fun. It's basically a Jane Austen* novel and very deliberately so...except that the characters are dragons. Fun!
(*Yes, I know it's actually modeled on Trollope and other Victorian authors, not Austen, but I haven't read Trollope and I have read Austen, and this felt so much like "Pride and Prejudice." Except, you know, dragons!)
Now I'm reading another Jo Walton book, "Among Others," which is the one I'd originally seen highly recommended, but I picked up "Tooth and Claw" instead since I couldn't find "Among Others" at the time. I don't think I identify with the main character of "Among Others" as much as some people do (I feel like I've read a lot of "omg yes, this is what it's like to be a geek and an outsider and to like sci fi and fantasy!!") but I do like her, and I like the world-building a LOT – what a fascinating take on magic, and all the questions of magic, of cause and effect, of the ethics of changing the world around you. Also, Wales. Lately everything I read makes me want to go to Wales again.
I'm also reading my way in bits and pieces through a huge compendium of Dorothy Sayers short stories, and a nonfiction book for my book club, and catching up on Sam Starbuck's Torchwood longfic. Been a good reading week, I guess!
ETA: I finished "Among Others" with tears rolling down my face. I'm not even sure why – it wasn't one specific thing. But the book as a whole moved me.
(*Yes, I know it's actually modeled on Trollope and other Victorian authors, not Austen, but I haven't read Trollope and I have read Austen, and this felt so much like "Pride and Prejudice." Except, you know, dragons!)
Now I'm reading another Jo Walton book, "Among Others," which is the one I'd originally seen highly recommended, but I picked up "Tooth and Claw" instead since I couldn't find "Among Others" at the time. I don't think I identify with the main character of "Among Others" as much as some people do (I feel like I've read a lot of "omg yes, this is what it's like to be a geek and an outsider and to like sci fi and fantasy!!") but I do like her, and I like the world-building a LOT – what a fascinating take on magic, and all the questions of magic, of cause and effect, of the ethics of changing the world around you. Also, Wales. Lately everything I read makes me want to go to Wales again.
I'm also reading my way in bits and pieces through a huge compendium of Dorothy Sayers short stories, and a nonfiction book for my book club, and catching up on Sam Starbuck's Torchwood longfic. Been a good reading week, I guess!
ETA: I finished "Among Others" with tears rolling down my face. I'm not even sure why – it wasn't one specific thing. But the book as a whole moved me.
