What Am I Reading Wednesday - August 25

Things continue to be not great at work. But at least supervisors took note? And solicited anonymous feedback? Which turned out be be both copious and far less varied than even I would have anticipated in regards to what is not working well.

I know this because this week supervisors held the "results of your feedback and how we plan to address it" meeting.

Their message came through loud and clear. To whit: Employees, A Problem Is You.

Accordingly, I retreat into books.

The Book of Atrix Wolfe ・ The Book of Spells ・ Breathe ・ Burnt Sugar ・ The Colour of Magic ・ Experience the Mystery of Tarot ・ Girl, Wash Your Face ・ Gold Diggers ・ The Light Fantastic ・ How to Build a Girl ・ How to Make a Bird ・ The Inspired Houseplant ・ The Kingdoms ・ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet ・ Magic for Liars ・ The Silver Bough vol. 2 ・ Thick as Thieves ・ A Thousand Ships ・ The Westing Game ・ The Witness for the Dead ・ Yearning for the Sea


What I Finished Reading This Week

Ferryman – Claire McFall
Ferryman is a solid summer beach read that hits the requisite YA romance tropes while avoiding the worst in terms of the love interest. Teenage protagonist Dylan doesn't fit in at school and is in a rough place with her mom, who disagrees with Dylan's choice to rekindle a relationship with the biological father she hasn't seen since childhood. When the train Dylan's taking to see him crashes and she crawls from the wreckage to encounter the aloof-but-physically-attractive Tristan, who mysteriously insists she follow him across the Highlands, it takes a while before she realizes that she's dead and that Tristan is there to guide her to her final reward.

The two quickly fall in instalove based solely--as far as I can tell--on the color of each other's eyes, leaving the twin questions of whether Tristan can guide Dylan safely to the other side through a wasteland populated with soul-eating demons and wraiths, and what will become of them as a couple, to drive the plot. There's some really nice narrative description of said wasteland, which hits all the right creepy and ominous notes. The departed souls and their ferryman "orbs" are particularly well done, as are the transitions between Dylan's initial and unadulterated views of the wasteland. ( Spoilers from here. )

Nuanced fantasy fiction this is not. But if you're looking for something light and go into the novel knowing what you're getting into, it hits the right genre notes and avoids the absolute worst.


What I Finished Reading At Some Point In The Past Four Months

The Inspired Houseplant – Jen Stearns
This was an impulse borrow at the library. I’d seen it stocked in several trendy boutiques over the years, which made me suspect it was probably all about the arty houseplant photographs. And there are arty houseplant photos aplenty. But there’s also a good deal of useful information about growing various types of houseplants. And while one can certainly find all of that information for free online, the same can be said of arty houseplant photos, and beginners could do far worse than picking up this volume.

Thick As Thieves – Megan Whalen Turner
Possibly my favorite entry in the series (although in all honestly, I say the same thing about The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia whenever I finish reading them.) I inhaled this the day it came out and then didn’t reread it for years, because I didn’t know how much the experience of ( cut for spoilers. )

Well, it did, but not in any way that diminished the experience of reading it again. This is such. A. Good. Book.


What I Am Currently Reading

Eat the Buddha – Barbara Demick
Every bit as well written as Nothing To Envy.

The Magian Tarok – Stephen E. Flowers
Still truckin’.

The Changeling – Joy Williams
Ooh. Ooh, is this one creepy.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I picked up a copy of Glen Duncan’s The Last Werewolf, which I made a fair attempt at in 2013 but still need to finish.


これで以上です。