What I've recently finished since my last post:
A Concise History of China by J.A.G. Roberts. Nothing more to say.
Sword Art Online volume 1 by Reki Kawahara -- link to official edition as that's what I read this time, and in any case the fan translations went down on publication day. Still good, and decent translation. Looks like volumes will come out in every four months, so the Alicization Arc will be a while -- ah well.
Biblia Koshodô no Jiken Techô volume 1 by En Mikami, as promised -- book-related mystery stories centered on an antiquarian bookshop in Kamakura: the first story deals with a edition of Natsume Sôseki's collected works published years after his death, one volume of which is autographed. The stories in this volume all have the detective confined to a hospital, but I expect her to take a more active role in sequels, now that she's discharged. The hints of awkward romance are obvious but pleasant. I may, thanks to![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thistleingrey, track down the j-drama adaptation.
Helm by Steven Gould, an every-so-often reread. What can I say -- I'm a sucker for heroes with Leland's sort of diffident competence. Plus, yanno, winning wars through aikido.
An interesting reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon by Ceisiwr Serith. (For the unorthodox orthography, see here.)
The Art of Haiku: Its History Through Poems and Paintings by Japanese Masters by Stephen Addiss, a nice thick book with scads of examples plus several reproductions of haiga (haiku+painting combinations), starting with two chapters on the poetic tradition that developed into haiku. I did not get warm fuzzies from how the short section on the Kokinshu makes four factual errors in three pages -- not his focus or expertise, but still. Despite that, I ended up generally pleased with the translations, though Addiss tends to ignore mo ("even," "also") more than I'd like (the only glaring errors I saw were in Komachi's famous minefield -- again, not his focus). This is the best book about haiku I've read: Addiss does an excellent job of bringing out (even in translation) what makes a good haiku work -- I found the chronological arrangement of the Bashô, Buson, and Issa chapters especially revealing in this regard. Recommended.
1919 by Margeaux Otis, a friend by another name still smelling as sweet, a historical romance of a soldier and a nurse after the Great War -- unusually for this sort of book, with American characters and setting. Also, the focus is very much on the shell-shock (or as we call it today, PTSD) of the two principals rather than their romance in itself, which means it's touching more historical novel tropes than romance novel tropes, especially in the first half. Recommended, especially if you like this sort of thing.
Heaping handfuls of Robert Browning, to the tune of most of the Dramatic Lyrics. Makes me want to reread the original Men and Women collection (not the eviscerated section of his collected poetry, with the rest redistributed).
All of which is, um, more than I thought. Huh.
What I'm reading now:
Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots by Seanan McGuire, the first fixup volume of stories about a former teenage superhero trying to figure out how to have a normal life as a young adult -- and being a former child star without a support network is bad enough, without having to evade the clutches of the Marketing Division of The Super Patriots, Inc. NB: Do not piss off a person who can animate not just plush animals but any anthropomorphic figure -- and give them weapons appropriate to their form. Am in the last story ("Velveteen vs. The Blind Date") so I probably could count this as complete.
Allison volume 1 by Keiichi Sigsawa, an earlier series by the author of Kino's Journey -- this one a secondary-world science fiction (alternate earth with roughly 1920s tech and European-ambient cultures), but many of his existential fantasy concerns are already showing up. The adventure shows up quickly, too -- making it a good quick read. Am ~2/3 through.
What I might read next:
Velveteen vs. The Multiverse. Maybe. Just maybe.
---L.
A Concise History of China by J.A.G. Roberts. Nothing more to say.
Sword Art Online volume 1 by Reki Kawahara -- link to official edition as that's what I read this time, and in any case the fan translations went down on publication day. Still good, and decent translation. Looks like volumes will come out in every four months, so the Alicization Arc will be a while -- ah well.
Biblia Koshodô no Jiken Techô volume 1 by En Mikami, as promised -- book-related mystery stories centered on an antiquarian bookshop in Kamakura: the first story deals with a edition of Natsume Sôseki's collected works published years after his death, one volume of which is autographed. The stories in this volume all have the detective confined to a hospital, but I expect her to take a more active role in sequels, now that she's discharged. The hints of awkward romance are obvious but pleasant. I may, thanks to
thistleingrey, track down the j-drama adaptation.Helm by Steven Gould, an every-so-often reread. What can I say -- I'm a sucker for heroes with Leland's sort of diffident competence. Plus, yanno, winning wars through aikido.
An interesting reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon by Ceisiwr Serith. (For the unorthodox orthography, see here.)
The Art of Haiku: Its History Through Poems and Paintings by Japanese Masters by Stephen Addiss, a nice thick book with scads of examples plus several reproductions of haiga (haiku+painting combinations), starting with two chapters on the poetic tradition that developed into haiku. I did not get warm fuzzies from how the short section on the Kokinshu makes four factual errors in three pages -- not his focus or expertise, but still. Despite that, I ended up generally pleased with the translations, though Addiss tends to ignore mo ("even," "also") more than I'd like (the only glaring errors I saw were in Komachi's famous minefield -- again, not his focus). This is the best book about haiku I've read: Addiss does an excellent job of bringing out (even in translation) what makes a good haiku work -- I found the chronological arrangement of the Bashô, Buson, and Issa chapters especially revealing in this regard. Recommended.
1919 by Margeaux Otis, a friend by another name still smelling as sweet, a historical romance of a soldier and a nurse after the Great War -- unusually for this sort of book, with American characters and setting. Also, the focus is very much on the shell-shock (or as we call it today, PTSD) of the two principals rather than their romance in itself, which means it's touching more historical novel tropes than romance novel tropes, especially in the first half. Recommended, especially if you like this sort of thing.
Heaping handfuls of Robert Browning, to the tune of most of the Dramatic Lyrics. Makes me want to reread the original Men and Women collection (not the eviscerated section of his collected poetry, with the rest redistributed).
All of which is, um, more than I thought. Huh.
What I'm reading now:
Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots by Seanan McGuire, the first fixup volume of stories about a former teenage superhero trying to figure out how to have a normal life as a young adult -- and being a former child star without a support network is bad enough, without having to evade the clutches of the Marketing Division of The Super Patriots, Inc. NB: Do not piss off a person who can animate not just plush animals but any anthropomorphic figure -- and give them weapons appropriate to their form. Am in the last story ("Velveteen vs. The Blind Date") so I probably could count this as complete.
Allison volume 1 by Keiichi Sigsawa, an earlier series by the author of Kino's Journey -- this one a secondary-world science fiction (alternate earth with roughly 1920s tech and European-ambient cultures), but many of his existential fantasy concerns are already showing up. The adventure shows up quickly, too -- making it a good quick read. Am ~2/3 through.
What I might read next:
Velveteen vs. The Multiverse. Maybe. Just maybe.
---L.