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Wednesdays, we meme of reading
12 June 2013 07:14 amWhat I've recently finished since my last post:
Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi ("the someday demon's black rabbit") volume 1 by Kagami Takaya, a sorta-kinda vampire novel -- I guess? I went in with low expectations, but was pulled through by strong writing and a protagonist I actually cared about, despite some troperiffic character attributes. Maybe it was how the amnesiac romance was handled? I'm not continuing on, though, as the set-up at the end suggests a more boilerplate high-school fantasy series (and more stupid bickering) -- and indeed, 20 pages of the sequel were enough to pot-shot it into the DNF bin. Ah, well.
Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaô ("great demon king in the very back," I think?) volumes 1-2 by Shotarô Mizuki -- kinda like Harry Potter crossed with Angel Densetsu, if that has any meaning for you. When Our Protagonist Akuto Sai, who is strong, kindhearted, and somewhat dense, is admitted to the national magic academy, thesorting hat aptitude test claims future profession he is best suited to is demon king -- and the last demon king, a century ago, lead the country into civil war. Cue hijinx as Akuto tries to prove he's not this generation's Big Bad while everyone else sets out to either preemptively take down this Threat To Society or use him for their own purposes. Cue also lots of clothing damage and rounds of girls coming out of invisibility spells without spare clothes at hand. Also, aspects of the magic deal with consent issues that, as yet, it is not clear the author is aware of (and are indeed disturbing). These problems aside, it's a less stupid waste of time than many other series.
Tiassa by Steven Brust. I'm not sure how I feel about Paarfi narrating even a portion of a Vlad story, even if this finally gives us an extended description of Vlad's appearance. I'm also not sure this volume would work as a series entry -- various portions are direct sequels to four other books, while another is a direct prequel to a fifth, plus there's several continuities from the Khaavren Romances. But we do finally learn a bit about What Is Up with Devera and the main timeline gets moved forward a few more years with signs that Vlad, at least, is moving on (though Godslayer still hasn't woken up). Not the best Vlad book, but not Athyra and a fun read.
Poems of Places volume 30, covering the Americas exclusive of the United States. And in conclusion: Conquistadors = bad bad bad (though Columbus was heroic), North American military adventures in Latin America = ambivalently good, First Nations in Canada = completely invisible (even if they weren't they'd be nothing compared to the plight of the Acadians). Ooo-kay then. (For those keeping score, I've read 13 of 31 volumes.)
Acquainted with the Night: Insomnia Poems ed. Lisa Russ Spaar, an almost attractive little book with a decent range of selections, including translations from all around the northern hemisphere. "Almost" because the designer inexplicably gave body text over an inch of right margin, so that far more lines of ordinary iambic pentameter are wrapped than is needful. Also, I should not have been surprised that Philip Larkin's "Aubade" is one of the best poems. Good for late nights, tho'.
Also, did finish Birrell's Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China, yay. Interesting, especially in the commentary.
What I'm reading now:
The House Without a Key by Earl Derr Biggers, the first Charlie Chan novel. This is surprisingly well-written for a 1920s mystery, and indeed takes so long to get to the murder it initially reads as a decent mainstream novel, one that has things to say about Eastern attitudes towards the West that I am sympathetic toward. Chan, though -- oh dear. The author clearly signs the character as an anti-racist statement and mostly follows through on this intention, but every time Chan speaks, I cringe: he fractures English in ways that do not match the patterns of Chinese people I know speaking English as a second language. (It's not even consistent, either -- Biggers has him sometimes using an article, but when it is inappropriate.) The biggest surprise, though, is to learn Chan is a detective in the Honolulu police department: this simply never comes up in the pop-culture transmission of his character. The depiction of the Hawaiian blend of cultures is also of interest.
Song 24 (having finished 20-23) of Poly-Olbion -- I am disappointed in how little fenny goodness there is in the Norfolk section, though the digression into the technicalities of hawking after waterfowl was worth the price of an over-long hymn to Neptune as sung by nereids. Also, the long descriptions of every single battle in civil war between William I and Henry VII was very long, and the description of coursing greyhounds after hares was all too short. I am amused, however, by Drayton's audacity in having a prosy bore of a hill (some rivers even beg him to shut up already) recapitulate the entire poem -- not just the poem so far, but through to the end. Am currently bogged down in the Midlands by a catalog of every English saint through history.
Kokoro Connect volume 4 -- which is actually painful kinda to read, what with one of the protagonists slipping into undiagnosed depression and the others flailing around trying to figure out what to do. Am halfway through, but not reading it quickly.
Li Po and Tu Fu being selections translated by Arthur Cooper. The rambly introduction is not as good or well-written as A.C. Graham's for Poems of the Late Tang and the translations are of variable quality, but the translation notes are excellent. Cooper chose a fairly tight English form to match the tightness of the Chinese originals, producing interesting tensions that he does not always fully control. Also, I sometimes find the lineation distracting, though I generally see why he does it. Am about halfway through the Li selections.
What I might read next:
For sinologia, after "Li-Tu" I'm wavering between a recent translation of The Book of Songs and more Du Fu. Aside from that, who knows -- I've been jumping about a bit, with many things not holding my attention.
---L.
Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi ("the someday demon's black rabbit") volume 1 by Kagami Takaya, a sorta-kinda vampire novel -- I guess? I went in with low expectations, but was pulled through by strong writing and a protagonist I actually cared about, despite some troperiffic character attributes. Maybe it was how the amnesiac romance was handled? I'm not continuing on, though, as the set-up at the end suggests a more boilerplate high-school fantasy series (and more stupid bickering) -- and indeed, 20 pages of the sequel were enough to pot-shot it into the DNF bin. Ah, well.
Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaô ("great demon king in the very back," I think?) volumes 1-2 by Shotarô Mizuki -- kinda like Harry Potter crossed with Angel Densetsu, if that has any meaning for you. When Our Protagonist Akuto Sai, who is strong, kindhearted, and somewhat dense, is admitted to the national magic academy, the
Tiassa by Steven Brust. I'm not sure how I feel about Paarfi narrating even a portion of a Vlad story, even if this finally gives us an extended description of Vlad's appearance. I'm also not sure this volume would work as a series entry -- various portions are direct sequels to four other books, while another is a direct prequel to a fifth, plus there's several continuities from the Khaavren Romances. But we do finally learn a bit about What Is Up with Devera and the main timeline gets moved forward a few more years with signs that Vlad, at least, is moving on (though Godslayer still hasn't woken up). Not the best Vlad book, but not Athyra and a fun read.
Poems of Places volume 30, covering the Americas exclusive of the United States. And in conclusion: Conquistadors = bad bad bad (though Columbus was heroic), North American military adventures in Latin America = ambivalently good, First Nations in Canada = completely invisible (even if they weren't they'd be nothing compared to the plight of the Acadians). Ooo-kay then. (For those keeping score, I've read 13 of 31 volumes.)
Acquainted with the Night: Insomnia Poems ed. Lisa Russ Spaar, an almost attractive little book with a decent range of selections, including translations from all around the northern hemisphere. "Almost" because the designer inexplicably gave body text over an inch of right margin, so that far more lines of ordinary iambic pentameter are wrapped than is needful. Also, I should not have been surprised that Philip Larkin's "Aubade" is one of the best poems. Good for late nights, tho'.
Also, did finish Birrell's Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China, yay. Interesting, especially in the commentary.
What I'm reading now:
The House Without a Key by Earl Derr Biggers, the first Charlie Chan novel. This is surprisingly well-written for a 1920s mystery, and indeed takes so long to get to the murder it initially reads as a decent mainstream novel, one that has things to say about Eastern attitudes towards the West that I am sympathetic toward. Chan, though -- oh dear. The author clearly signs the character as an anti-racist statement and mostly follows through on this intention, but every time Chan speaks, I cringe: he fractures English in ways that do not match the patterns of Chinese people I know speaking English as a second language. (It's not even consistent, either -- Biggers has him sometimes using an article, but when it is inappropriate.) The biggest surprise, though, is to learn Chan is a detective in the Honolulu police department: this simply never comes up in the pop-culture transmission of his character. The depiction of the Hawaiian blend of cultures is also of interest.
Song 24 (having finished 20-23) of Poly-Olbion -- I am disappointed in how little fenny goodness there is in the Norfolk section, though the digression into the technicalities of hawking after waterfowl was worth the price of an over-long hymn to Neptune as sung by nereids. Also, the long descriptions of every single battle in civil war between William I and Henry VII was very long, and the description of coursing greyhounds after hares was all too short. I am amused, however, by Drayton's audacity in having a prosy bore of a hill (some rivers even beg him to shut up already) recapitulate the entire poem -- not just the poem so far, but through to the end. Am currently bogged down in the Midlands by a catalog of every English saint through history.
Kokoro Connect volume 4 -- which is actually painful kinda to read, what with one of the protagonists slipping into undiagnosed depression and the others flailing around trying to figure out what to do. Am halfway through, but not reading it quickly.
Li Po and Tu Fu being selections translated by Arthur Cooper. The rambly introduction is not as good or well-written as A.C. Graham's for Poems of the Late Tang and the translations are of variable quality, but the translation notes are excellent. Cooper chose a fairly tight English form to match the tightness of the Chinese originals, producing interesting tensions that he does not always fully control. Also, I sometimes find the lineation distracting, though I generally see why he does it. Am about halfway through the Li selections.
What I might read next:
For sinologia, after "Li-Tu" I'm wavering between a recent translation of The Book of Songs and more Du Fu. Aside from that, who knows -- I've been jumping about a bit, with many things not holding my attention.
---L.