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What I Just Finished Reading
The Strangler Vine – M.J. Carter
It held up very well on the reread, especially considering this time through no longer involved the tension of not knowing who lives and who dies, to put it bluntly. One of my favorite things about this novel, which became clear to me the second time through, is how little Carter tells you about physical appearances, ages, etc. Readers wishing to know will have to pay close attention to the narrative and do a fair amount of extrapolating. The thing is—and what too few authors realise—is that it makes the narrative so much more immediate and vivid than having everyone stare in a mirror, or express jealousy/admiration for another character's hair/eye color/height.
Myth-Making and Religious Extremism and Their Roots in Crises – Arthur Neal & Helen Youngelson-Neal
Final verdict: some intriguing concepts are buried in this volume but the book fails to deliver, largely because the authors lack an overall thesis or framework for organizing the information. Their arguments are poorly structured, repetitive, and frequently contradictory. That said, they reference a ton of intriguing sociologists and theorists, and I found myself regularly flipping to the works cited section to make notes for future reading.
What I Am Currently Reading
A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab
I realised what it is about this book that is rubbing me the wrong way: it's set in Victorian London, but the narration and worse, dialogue, come straight out of 21st century America. Our Stoic Yet Softhearted™ mage protagonist is repeatedly “okay” after whatever's just happened to him. “Sit down before you fall down, magic boy,” threatens our Plucky Lady Heroine™ when they first meet. (PS: Oh, snap!) Combined with the narrative sloppiness of characters remembering or forgetting their informed attributes to create a path of least resistance for the author, it just leaves me cold.
Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar – James Sneddon, K. Alexander Adelaar, Dwi Djenar
Bless this book. In less than 100 words it explained a bit of grammar—me-kan constructions, why they are both adjectives and verbs, and when they are adjectives versus verbs—to which another volume I own devoted an entire chapter that left me more confused than illuminated.
恋愛年齢 – 直野儚羅 (Ren'ai Nenrei – Naono Bohra
These stories were written in the years before 2010, when I felt that Naono was really phoning it in for her published stuff. The interesting works are now in her DJs, where she can spend as much time as she likes on plot before getting to the sex.
What I'm Reading Next
The Game of Kings – Dorothy Dunnett
Still planning to get to this one soon.
Jane Steele – Lyndsay Faye
I will be reading this book because it stole the cover from my current obsession, The Strangler Vine. I'm not joking
As a bonus, I believe it too might involve an alternate London.
これで以上です。
The Strangler Vine – M.J. Carter
It held up very well on the reread, especially considering this time through no longer involved the tension of not knowing who lives and who dies, to put it bluntly. One of my favorite things about this novel, which became clear to me the second time through, is how little Carter tells you about physical appearances, ages, etc. Readers wishing to know will have to pay close attention to the narrative and do a fair amount of extrapolating. The thing is—and what too few authors realise—is that it makes the narrative so much more immediate and vivid than having everyone stare in a mirror, or express jealousy/admiration for another character's hair/eye color/height.
Myth-Making and Religious Extremism and Their Roots in Crises – Arthur Neal & Helen Youngelson-Neal
Final verdict: some intriguing concepts are buried in this volume but the book fails to deliver, largely because the authors lack an overall thesis or framework for organizing the information. Their arguments are poorly structured, repetitive, and frequently contradictory. That said, they reference a ton of intriguing sociologists and theorists, and I found myself regularly flipping to the works cited section to make notes for future reading.
What I Am Currently Reading
A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab
I realised what it is about this book that is rubbing me the wrong way: it's set in Victorian London, but the narration and worse, dialogue, come straight out of 21st century America. Our Stoic Yet Softhearted™ mage protagonist is repeatedly “okay” after whatever's just happened to him. “Sit down before you fall down, magic boy,” threatens our Plucky Lady Heroine™ when they first meet. (PS: Oh, snap!) Combined with the narrative sloppiness of characters remembering or forgetting their informed attributes to create a path of least resistance for the author, it just leaves me cold.
Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar – James Sneddon, K. Alexander Adelaar, Dwi Djenar
Bless this book. In less than 100 words it explained a bit of grammar—me-kan constructions, why they are both adjectives and verbs, and when they are adjectives versus verbs—to which another volume I own devoted an entire chapter that left me more confused than illuminated.
恋愛年齢 – 直野儚羅 (Ren'ai Nenrei – Naono Bohra
These stories were written in the years before 2010, when I felt that Naono was really phoning it in for her published stuff. The interesting works are now in her DJs, where she can spend as much time as she likes on plot before getting to the sex.
What I'm Reading Next
The Game of Kings – Dorothy Dunnett
Still planning to get to this one soon.
Jane Steele – Lyndsay Faye
I will be reading this book because it stole the cover from my current obsession, The Strangler Vine. I'm not joking
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As a bonus, I believe it too might involve an alternate London.
これで以上です。