Jun. 22nd, 2022 02:30 pm
reading wednesday
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scientistsinistralLet's break up the teaposting, shall we? (Also because I have a minor sore throat and have been told by my grandma to stay off the hot tea for a few days.)
muccamukk does Reading Wednesdays, and it's Wednesday when I'm writing this... so it might be a thing on my blog now too.
I've been reading quite a lot lately! This is mostly because I volunteer at a library, and reservations are free, and my managers will let me override the 20 borrowed items limit for as many books as I want. So I have, uh... 33 out right now? (I also have another ready to collect as we speak, aha.)
Just Finished
Since my last reading update on my The Friday Five post, I finished the book I was reading, as well as three others.
The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James
This was quite lovely! It's a middle grade/young adult novella, and it definitely reads like it. It's quite short, set on a interplanetary school where other planets send their children, and focuses on an android named Hugo who works as a watchmaker to fix and supply watches for the pupils (one of the subjects requires a watch.) One of the students named Dorian comes in complaining his watch is broken, and they find out that the energy powering the watch has been stolen, which eventually is feared to become a bomb threat.
The character relationships and growth is lovely - there's a definite class divide between androids and students, as they're seen as lesser than biological people (which is not a new concept, but still an interesting one) and the growth when getting to know each other and realising they can all work together after all and becoming friends was just gorgeous. I've read a few of James' works and I do adore her scientific but down-to-earth writing - it's sci-fi, and there are new concepts to learn, but she tells it in such a way that it's digestible and very readable.
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
This one is a classic, an imagining of what the first Mrs Rochester from Jane Eyre might have been like. Rhys' version imagines her as Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress who goes through her troubles as a youth, then ends up falling for and marrying Mr Rochester, who slowly drives her towards the 'mad woman in the attic' we see in Bronte's novel.
The bulk of the book is told from Rochester's perspective, eliminating Antoinette's perspective from the warping that is happening to her, and only the start before it happened and after it happened can truly be seen at the start and end, which I thought was very well done.
It also made me go 'Mr Rochester is a f**king bastard' throughout, which wasn't a new opinion because it's one I already had after Jane Eyre. I'm glad I read this, though.
Call Down The Hawkby Maggie Stiefvater
I read the entirety of The Raven Cycle a few years back when it was very big on Tumblr, and whilst I was never die hard for Adam Parrish and the Lynches I was sufficiently intrigued to read this one which talks about what happens after the series ends. This series focuses more on the concept of dreamers - people which can create things from their dreams - and the risks and trials that things like that brings. It introduces new dreamers and non-dreamers, and is told from three main perspectives.
I liked it to begin with and I did read all of it, but I was definitely skimming by the end. I was never... too interested in the dreaming aspect of the original series, so exploring that wasn't to my personal interest, and whilst the characters were intriguing I was more interested in the interpersonal relationships between the Lynch brothers most of all. So I don't think I'll be reading the second book, but I might go back and reread The Raven Cycle for a bit of nostalgia.
The Starless Seaby Erin Morgenstern
Had to pick this one up after reading The Night Circus twice and falling in love with the atmosphere and writing style, and this one certainly continued that trend. Curious and atmospheric, infused with things that don't make sense at first then all interconnect to make you go flipping back through the book to reread the old moments again. Morgenstern's writing is just lyrical.
Another secondary main character named Dorian in this one, actually, in another very close male friendship (turned love in this case) like The Starless Sea. Which may just be the influence of Dorian Gray on queer literature and men who are very good friends with other men (as James has written same-gender relationships into her novels before) but definitely made me have a Dr. Doofenschmirtz 'If I had a nickel for every time [] I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.' moment.
Currently Reading
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill
Up Next
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Prayer for the Living by Ben Okri
have the most renewals (I can have up to 5 unless reserved, and this are on two) so they're up next.
muccamukk does Reading Wednesdays, and it's Wednesday when I'm writing this... so it might be a thing on my blog now too.I've been reading quite a lot lately! This is mostly because I volunteer at a library, and reservations are free, and my managers will let me override the 20 borrowed items limit for as many books as I want. So I have, uh... 33 out right now? (I also have another ready to collect as we speak, aha.)
Just Finished
Since my last reading update on my The Friday Five post, I finished the book I was reading, as well as three others.
The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James
This was quite lovely! It's a middle grade/young adult novella, and it definitely reads like it. It's quite short, set on a interplanetary school where other planets send their children, and focuses on an android named Hugo who works as a watchmaker to fix and supply watches for the pupils (one of the subjects requires a watch.) One of the students named Dorian comes in complaining his watch is broken, and they find out that the energy powering the watch has been stolen, which eventually is feared to become a bomb threat.
The character relationships and growth is lovely - there's a definite class divide between androids and students, as they're seen as lesser than biological people (which is not a new concept, but still an interesting one) and the growth when getting to know each other and realising they can all work together after all and becoming friends was just gorgeous. I've read a few of James' works and I do adore her scientific but down-to-earth writing - it's sci-fi, and there are new concepts to learn, but she tells it in such a way that it's digestible and very readable.
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
This one is a classic, an imagining of what the first Mrs Rochester from Jane Eyre might have been like. Rhys' version imagines her as Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress who goes through her troubles as a youth, then ends up falling for and marrying Mr Rochester, who slowly drives her towards the 'mad woman in the attic' we see in Bronte's novel.
The bulk of the book is told from Rochester's perspective, eliminating Antoinette's perspective from the warping that is happening to her, and only the start before it happened and after it happened can truly be seen at the start and end, which I thought was very well done.
It also made me go 'Mr Rochester is a f**king bastard' throughout, which wasn't a new opinion because it's one I already had after Jane Eyre. I'm glad I read this, though.
Call Down The Hawkby Maggie Stiefvater
I read the entirety of The Raven Cycle a few years back when it was very big on Tumblr, and whilst I was never die hard for Adam Parrish and the Lynches I was sufficiently intrigued to read this one which talks about what happens after the series ends. This series focuses more on the concept of dreamers - people which can create things from their dreams - and the risks and trials that things like that brings. It introduces new dreamers and non-dreamers, and is told from three main perspectives.
I liked it to begin with and I did read all of it, but I was definitely skimming by the end. I was never... too interested in the dreaming aspect of the original series, so exploring that wasn't to my personal interest, and whilst the characters were intriguing I was more interested in the interpersonal relationships between the Lynch brothers most of all. So I don't think I'll be reading the second book, but I might go back and reread The Raven Cycle for a bit of nostalgia.
The Starless Seaby Erin Morgenstern
Had to pick this one up after reading The Night Circus twice and falling in love with the atmosphere and writing style, and this one certainly continued that trend. Curious and atmospheric, infused with things that don't make sense at first then all interconnect to make you go flipping back through the book to reread the old moments again. Morgenstern's writing is just lyrical.
Another secondary main character named Dorian in this one, actually, in another very close male friendship (turned love in this case) like The Starless Sea. Which may just be the influence of Dorian Gray on queer literature and men who are very good friends with other men (as James has written same-gender relationships into her novels before) but definitely made me have a Dr. Doofenschmirtz 'If I had a nickel for every time [] I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.' moment.
Currently Reading
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill
Up Next
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Prayer for the Living by Ben Okri
have the most renewals (I can have up to 5 unless reserved, and this are on two) so they're up next.
Tags:
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject