What Am I Reading Wednesday - January 22

What I Just Finished Reading

The Queen of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner
One of my all time favorites. If you haven’t yet read any of these novels, take the opportunity before the last volume is published this August to correct that. They are phenomenal, and you will wonder why you waited as long as you did.


What I Am Currently Reading

Intermediate Korean – Andrew Sangpil Byon
This week I dipped my toe into the first chapter on auxiliary verbs.

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
Lots of airplane travel last week meant I set this one—my copy is a hardback—aside in favor of more portable ebooks.

The Ten-Thousand Doors of January – Alix Harrow
So far, this competently written book feels like it’s trying to be The Starless Sea lite, with a dash of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell-style footnotes thrown in. I appreciate Harrow’s take on doors and fantasy worlds, and the power of reading to save people in terrible situations. Alas, her inability to purge 21st century language from a narrative she’s tried to write in an early 19th century voice keeps catapulting me out of the story.

The Raven Strategem – Yoon Ha Lee
The initial volume in this series tested (but ultimately did not defeat) my love for books that dump me in at the deep end and ask me to figure things out on my own. Having said that, Lee’s exposition dump/recap in the first chapter is better done than in most other books I could name, in terms of readability and humor. This bodes well.


What I'm Reading Next
This week I picked up a copy of Brian Catling’s The Vorrh, which I opted not to read in favor of V. E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic four years ago. Schwab left me cold; I’m hoping this book agrees with me more.


これで以上です。

Snowflake Challenge - Day 10

I think if I do two of these a day, I'll be caught up by the end of the challenge.



Challenge #10

In your own space, talk About A Creator/Someone Who Inspired You. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

torch's X-Files fic Ghosts was a huge influence on me back in '97. That one could write an entire fanfic novel, with original characters and an original plot for which canon was just a jumping off point, had not previously occurred to me. Years later, it's still a great fic, and thankfully with a lot more novel-length company.

これで以上です。