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larryhammerA Reading Wednesday post in which I claim I am reading, despite the desperate state of my phone battery. But when apps crash repeatedly leaving reading time only at bedtime, it's hard to make much progress. But before that kicked in, I finished:
To Be a Virtuous Wife, Yuexia Dieying — Good, but not as good as Eight Treasures Trousseau. For one thing, while the main couple are more humanly believable characters (heck, ETT even has wuxia elements), it is conversely not as clear how good a match for each other they really are. (Author props at least that it's the MC's free behavior that attracts the male lead.) For another, the layers of imperial politicking thins out in the last third, sometimes providing hardly any tension at all. Not regretting reading it, though. (Correction to my previous comment about the historical template: the MC at one point explicitly thinks the setting culture as similar to Tang and Song society, though with government structure a mishmash of several dynasties -- and many times is glad that women are not as restricted as sometimes historically.) Be aware that the translator occasionally typos names, especially of the royal brothers, so you need to keep track of who's actually on stage.
Artificial Condition, The Murderbot Diaries #2, Martha Wells — A solid sequel, focusing more on Murderbot's search for its past and learning a little bit more of how to fit in among humans and AIs than revealing (or reveling in) its interesting personality. If you liked the first, you'll like this. If you like explorations of how stories help us navigate social landscapes, you'll like this. If you like snarky AIs, you'll like this. What's not to like?
The Demoness is Not Evil (妖女不妖), Xi Ming (裘梦) — another short (10-chapter) wuxia romance. In wuxia, a "demoness" is a capable female martial artist, typically one antagonistic to "orthodox" sects. In this case, Qu Qingyin is a bounty hunter who captures, for trial by government authorities, martial artists who've operated too far outside the law; currently she's after a serial rapist targeting female martial artists. I like her refreshingly direct attitude towards speaking plain truth, which makes for much fun banter and socially awkward pauses, and wish the male lead was as interesting as her. I wanted to like this more, but there's argh nonconsensual wooing by the male lead that's not fully called out by the narrative. Other content warnings: onstage rape, abusive parenting.
A Shropshire Lad, A.E. Housman — and a lot more Housman (rereads all), but unlike Last Poems, which is a collection of random verse, and the two volumes published by his brother, which are stuff he’d decided not to publish all heaped together, this first collection is a sustained argument on a few focused themes that echo backward and forward through individual poems. The best analogy I can think of is a concept album (the sort that doesn’t have a plot). My favorite single poem of his is not in Lad, but given what that collection succeeded at doing, it didn’t need it.
Plus parts of other stuff, to be discussed anon.
---L.
Subject quote from Œnone, Alfred the Tennyson.
To Be a Virtuous Wife, Yuexia Dieying — Good, but not as good as Eight Treasures Trousseau. For one thing, while the main couple are more humanly believable characters (heck, ETT even has wuxia elements), it is conversely not as clear how good a match for each other they really are. (Author props at least that it's the MC's free behavior that attracts the male lead.) For another, the layers of imperial politicking thins out in the last third, sometimes providing hardly any tension at all. Not regretting reading it, though. (Correction to my previous comment about the historical template: the MC at one point explicitly thinks the setting culture as similar to Tang and Song society, though with government structure a mishmash of several dynasties -- and many times is glad that women are not as restricted as sometimes historically.) Be aware that the translator occasionally typos names, especially of the royal brothers, so you need to keep track of who's actually on stage.
Artificial Condition, The Murderbot Diaries #2, Martha Wells — A solid sequel, focusing more on Murderbot's search for its past and learning a little bit more of how to fit in among humans and AIs than revealing (or reveling in) its interesting personality. If you liked the first, you'll like this. If you like explorations of how stories help us navigate social landscapes, you'll like this. If you like snarky AIs, you'll like this. What's not to like?
The Demoness is Not Evil (妖女不妖), Xi Ming (裘梦) — another short (10-chapter) wuxia romance. In wuxia, a "demoness" is a capable female martial artist, typically one antagonistic to "orthodox" sects. In this case, Qu Qingyin is a bounty hunter who captures, for trial by government authorities, martial artists who've operated too far outside the law; currently she's after a serial rapist targeting female martial artists. I like her refreshingly direct attitude towards speaking plain truth, which makes for much fun banter and socially awkward pauses, and wish the male lead was as interesting as her. I wanted to like this more, but there's argh nonconsensual wooing by the male lead that's not fully called out by the narrative. Other content warnings: onstage rape, abusive parenting.
A Shropshire Lad, A.E. Housman — and a lot more Housman (rereads all), but unlike Last Poems, which is a collection of random verse, and the two volumes published by his brother, which are stuff he’d decided not to publish all heaped together, this first collection is a sustained argument on a few focused themes that echo backward and forward through individual poems. The best analogy I can think of is a concept album (the sort that doesn’t have a plot). My favorite single poem of his is not in Lad, but given what that collection succeeded at doing, it didn’t need it.
Plus parts of other stuff, to be discussed anon.
---L.
Subject quote from Œnone, Alfred the Tennyson.
no subject
Date: 23 May 2018 04:26 pm (UTC)I think if I have a favorite Housman, it's "The Oracles," but yours is very good; I always remember that last line. My grandmother liked it.
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Date: 23 May 2018 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 May 2018 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 May 2018 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 25 May 2018 02:01 am (UTC)I'm not sure I have a favourite single poem of his--I only really discovered him last year; I'll have to review his work a few times before I develop an opinion. But off the top of my head I like "Terence, this is stupid stuff," "The West," and "Loveliest of trees, the cherry now" (one of my mother's favourites), and the one you linke is beautiful,too.
(Is it just me, or does "The West" make you think if the Elves in Lord of the Rings? A quick Google doesn't tell me whether Tolkien is known to have been influenced by him, but perhaps they shared a common influence to both of them...?)
(Last fall all my family, plus my sister's boyfriend, rented a cottage in the country for a weekend. It turned out most of us had favourite Housman poems and opinions, and we ended up reading/reciting a whole bunch at the guy.)
no subject
Date: 25 May 2018 03:03 pm (UTC)I suspect in "The West," Housman and Tolkien are drawing on a common influence, but there's probably others reading here who can say for sure. I've met similar imagery in mid-19th century poems, if not necessarily as fully developed.
Have you met Housman's "Hell Gate" (in Last Poems)? I want to know about ITS influence on fantasy fiction.
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Date: 29 May 2018 07:16 pm (UTC)I have, yeah, and it's very good, but I'm not sure I know what you mean about its influence on fantasy? At least, I can't think of anything that has a similar feel to me, except in ways I suspect are coincidence.
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Date: 29 May 2018 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 29 May 2018 07:42 pm (UTC)--oh, do you mean The Work Ouroboros? I've never read it, but I've heard of it. --no, Google says they were both published the same year. Hmm.
no subject
Date: 29 May 2018 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 29 May 2018 08:00 pm (UTC)