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What I've recently finished since my last post:
The Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima - Has some structural wobbles: the shape of the protagonist's arc forces delaying the introduction of an important character till 2/3 through, which is way too late given the importance. Still, once it catches going, good stuff. I remain tickled by the presence of strong female characters in this series aimed at teenage boys without specifically marking them as special: they are strong and they are girls and that's that.
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda tr. by W.S. Merwin - Rather different from 100 Love Sonnets, as you might expect given it was published by a 19-year-old surrealist instead of a 50-odd-year-old political figure. Young enough, he doesn't quite have control over the cumulative effects of his extravagant imagery -- sometimes he nails it, sometimes ... not so much. But regardless, he at least is convincing at being passionate.
Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke tr. Robert Hunter and tr. Robert Temple - Wow twice. Very poetry. Not Neruda.
Poems of Places volume 2 ed. by Longfellow - Being the G-N of places in England, including a lot of London. I've been picking at this every so often, the past few months, and after Rilke got back into the semi-groove of it. In general, I'm not finding the British Isles as interesting as the rest of Europe, possibly because there is less dissociation between poet and subject. Aside from these, I have the United States (which I expect to have similar problems) and Africa (which I expect to be dreadful) left to read. Eventually, I should write up a larger report of the whole chimichanga* grande.
Plus fanfic, some of which I'll write up some other time.
What I'm reading now:
The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima, last of the trilogy - A weightier tome, as this time we get dual protagonists. It's even slower to get going. Am about a quarter in, give or take.
Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore - Yeah, yeah. When I was twelve and supposed to be reading this, my time was instead taken up with the likes of Moby Dick, War and Peace (twice), and James Mitchner, so never got to it. See also: all this L.M. Montgomery of late. (At least I read R.L. Stevenson at the right time.) Anyway, a romance of Exmoor, as the subtitle says, and Blackmore does a creditable job with a flavorful Defoe-lite prose style. The story's protagonist is a clan feud performed in the southwestern England manner, co-starring lots and lots of mud. Oh, and there's a doomed childhood romance stuck in a bog somewhere -- quite a romantic one in fact, but this overshadowed by moor itself. Am, um, about a third of the way in? Maybe a little less.
(I was startled to realize that, by the map, Doone Valley is like four miles from Porlock infamous from Coleridge. Geography: it's all connected.)
What I officially Did Not Finish:
Spice & Wolf volume 1 by Isuna Hasekura tr. Paul Starr - Had to return it to the library before finishing the last third. Yeah, I could renew. But if it's taking me this long might as well give up. Enjoyable while being read, but not compelling. I do like Holo, the wolf spirit cum retired fertility god. (Apparently wolves : wheat :: foxes : rice -- who knew?)
What I might read next:
I think I've reasonably proven that I suck at these sorts of predictions, but I have reason to suspect line-breaks may be involved. Regarding which, a question:
Who would be a good poet for scratching much the same itch that Neruda and Rilke do? That is, who is similar to those two, in the same ways that they are similar to each other?
---L.
* Are chimichangas known outside North America?
Subject quote parodies Longfellow.
The Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima - Has some structural wobbles: the shape of the protagonist's arc forces delaying the introduction of an important character till 2/3 through, which is way too late given the importance. Still, once it catches going, good stuff. I remain tickled by the presence of strong female characters in this series aimed at teenage boys without specifically marking them as special: they are strong and they are girls and that's that.
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda tr. by W.S. Merwin - Rather different from 100 Love Sonnets, as you might expect given it was published by a 19-year-old surrealist instead of a 50-odd-year-old political figure. Young enough, he doesn't quite have control over the cumulative effects of his extravagant imagery -- sometimes he nails it, sometimes ... not so much. But regardless, he at least is convincing at being passionate.
Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke tr. Robert Hunter and tr. Robert Temple - Wow twice. Very poetry. Not Neruda.
Poems of Places volume 2 ed. by Longfellow - Being the G-N of places in England, including a lot of London. I've been picking at this every so often, the past few months, and after Rilke got back into the semi-groove of it. In general, I'm not finding the British Isles as interesting as the rest of Europe, possibly because there is less dissociation between poet and subject. Aside from these, I have the United States (which I expect to have similar problems) and Africa (which I expect to be dreadful) left to read. Eventually, I should write up a larger report of the whole chimichanga* grande.
Plus fanfic, some of which I'll write up some other time.
What I'm reading now:
The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima, last of the trilogy - A weightier tome, as this time we get dual protagonists. It's even slower to get going. Am about a quarter in, give or take.
Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore - Yeah, yeah. When I was twelve and supposed to be reading this, my time was instead taken up with the likes of Moby Dick, War and Peace (twice), and James Mitchner, so never got to it. See also: all this L.M. Montgomery of late. (At least I read R.L. Stevenson at the right time.) Anyway, a romance of Exmoor, as the subtitle says, and Blackmore does a creditable job with a flavorful Defoe-lite prose style. The story's protagonist is a clan feud performed in the southwestern England manner, co-starring lots and lots of mud. Oh, and there's a doomed childhood romance stuck in a bog somewhere -- quite a romantic one in fact, but this overshadowed by moor itself. Am, um, about a third of the way in? Maybe a little less.
(I was startled to realize that, by the map, Doone Valley is like four miles from Porlock infamous from Coleridge. Geography: it's all connected.)
What I officially Did Not Finish:
Spice & Wolf volume 1 by Isuna Hasekura tr. Paul Starr - Had to return it to the library before finishing the last third. Yeah, I could renew. But if it's taking me this long might as well give up. Enjoyable while being read, but not compelling. I do like Holo, the wolf spirit cum retired fertility god. (Apparently wolves : wheat :: foxes : rice -- who knew?)
What I might read next:
I think I've reasonably proven that I suck at these sorts of predictions, but I have reason to suspect line-breaks may be involved. Regarding which, a question:
Who would be a good poet for scratching much the same itch that Neruda and Rilke do? That is, who is similar to those two, in the same ways that they are similar to each other?
---L.
* Are chimichangas known outside North America?
Subject quote parodies Longfellow.