Recent Reading
May. 25th, 2025 08:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanguinityJashar Awan, Every Monday Mabel (2025)
Children's picture book about Mabel's weekly ritual of getting ready for the breathlessy-awaited, much-longed-for visit of the garbage truck. Mabel's family is indulgent of but largely indifferent to her fannish interest -- but all across the city, other small children are also devoted fans of the garbage truck...
Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
It's always odd to come late to a cornerstone of its genre. There are so many elements that were presumably fresh at the time of first publication, but which now ping as much-worn if well-beloved tropes. (In hindsight, it seems pretty clear to me that Stephen King was, directly or indirectly, influenced by Shirley Jackson.) And yet for all that the horror aspects of the story were defanged by my having first encountered them elsewhere, I enjoyed this story immensely. The characters are richly and deftly portrayed, and Nell is already one of my favorite faulty narrators, as her story unfolds into multiple layers of self-invention, misdirection, and supernatural influence. There's a whole bunch of chewy stuff here about why and how Nell in particular was targeted by the house, and especially the house's offer of home and belonging while simultaneously guaranteeing she would never know the same.
Note togaronne, who asked elsewhere if Theodora is canonically queer in the original English: yes, she is. It's discreet (e.g., the text refers to Dora's "friend" instead of her "girlfriend"), but for anyone who is familiar with the coded language that used to predominate for queer relationships, the implication that she's a lesbian is unambiguous.
Lois McMaster Bujold, Komarr (1998)
Read-aloud withgrrlpup; first-read for her and re-read for me.
I remember being underwhelmed with this one the first time through, and it's true, all the stuff with Tien is just... awful. (It's not bad writing! The character is just numblingly sloggingly awful, exactly as he's meant to be. I appreciate the depiction of the dynamics of getting caught in an awful marriage, but that doesn't make the experience of reading about him any more pleasant.) Sadly, even after he exits the book, he still haunts the narrative. But I do love Ekaterin, and the Vorthyses, and a bunch of minor characters -- the two accountants, while getting only a half-dozen pages each, were great favorites of Grrlpup. And the climax is glorious; Miles is correct to be smitten with Ekaterin.
( politics of occupation )
Children's picture book about Mabel's weekly ritual of getting ready for the breathlessy-awaited, much-longed-for visit of the garbage truck. Mabel's family is indulgent of but largely indifferent to her fannish interest -- but all across the city, other small children are also devoted fans of the garbage truck...
Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
It's always odd to come late to a cornerstone of its genre. There are so many elements that were presumably fresh at the time of first publication, but which now ping as much-worn if well-beloved tropes. (In hindsight, it seems pretty clear to me that Stephen King was, directly or indirectly, influenced by Shirley Jackson.) And yet for all that the horror aspects of the story were defanged by my having first encountered them elsewhere, I enjoyed this story immensely. The characters are richly and deftly portrayed, and Nell is already one of my favorite faulty narrators, as her story unfolds into multiple layers of self-invention, misdirection, and supernatural influence. There's a whole bunch of chewy stuff here about why and how Nell in particular was targeted by the house, and especially the house's offer of home and belonging while simultaneously guaranteeing she would never know the same.
Note to
garonne, who asked elsewhere if Theodora is canonically queer in the original English: yes, she is. It's discreet (e.g., the text refers to Dora's "friend" instead of her "girlfriend"), but for anyone who is familiar with the coded language that used to predominate for queer relationships, the implication that she's a lesbian is unambiguous.Lois McMaster Bujold, Komarr (1998)
Read-aloud with
grrlpup; first-read for her and re-read for me.I remember being underwhelmed with this one the first time through, and it's true, all the stuff with Tien is just... awful. (It's not bad writing! The character is just numblingly sloggingly awful, exactly as he's meant to be. I appreciate the depiction of the dynamics of getting caught in an awful marriage, but that doesn't make the experience of reading about him any more pleasant.) Sadly, even after he exits the book, he still haunts the narrative. But I do love Ekaterin, and the Vorthyses, and a bunch of minor characters -- the two accountants, while getting only a half-dozen pages each, were great favorites of Grrlpup. And the climax is glorious; Miles is correct to be smitten with Ekaterin.
( politics of occupation )
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