Trismegistus (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lebateleur) wrote2022-05-18 09:34 pm
lebateleur) wrote2022-05-18 09:34 pm
What Am I Reading Wednesday - May 18
I only finished one book this week. But! It's been a busy week.
Saturday the friends who have been running monthly virtual trivia since the early days of the pandemic hosted a mixed virtual/in-person game, the first in-person one we've been able to do since winter 2019. My team won in a stunning wager-round upset, based on our knowledge of some truly obscure, useless facts. This was followed by a birthday party for a second set of friends.
Sunday two good friends were married. They'd planned a beautiful outdoor (regional) destination wedding. So of course it rained. Luckily, the venue was able to move them into an indoor space, which was also quite pretty, at the last minute. The ceremony was lovely, the guests were lovely, I danced a lot, so did everyone else, and it was just an all-around excellent time.
Monday I stayed up into the wee hours of Tuesday morning to watch the total lunar eclipse. I've seen many partial lunar eclipses, but this was the first total eclipse I've been able to watch since, hmm, 1998, and I was very excited for it. They'd been predicting mild temperatures and clear skies in the week leading up to the event, so of course a massive bank of clouds rolled in at about 4:00 pm and parked itself directly overhead the next seven hours. Undaunted, I went out for a walk at about 10:40. At 11:20 I finally found somewhere where the moon was partially visible through the clouds, and there I watched until about 1:30 in the morning. I'm glad I persisted, because it was beautiful. As a bonus, someone had put a sadly mistreated monstera out on the street, so I gained a new hausplernt on my way back home.
Tuesday I saw The Hu in concert. God, these guys put on a great show. The first time I saw them, they played their (at the time unreleased) album twice through, and the two singles a third time during the encore, because they were so new they didn't have any other songs. When we saw them again last summer, the album was out and they had about another half-an-album's worth of banging new material. We got to hear those songs again last night, and they were as good as I'd remembered. Bonus: I was able to pick up a t-shirt for my nephew's birthday. (I gifted ma soeur The Gereg for Thingsgiving the year it came out; for the first two years of his life my nephew wouldn't go to bed or anywhere in the car unless it was playing. Me: "I hope you're not tired of it." Ma soeur: "Hell no! I listen to it when I'm running too." So I think the t-shirt will please.) To summarize: The Hu is freaking awesome, the crowds have some of the best energy of any live shows I've been to, and I would see them every day of the week if I could.
What I Finished Reading This Week
[ ] – [ ]
For reasons.
What I Am Currently Reading
[ ] – [ ]
A different unnamed book than the above; also for reasons.
Upright Women Wanted – Sarah Gailey
So far this isn't a bad novella, but it's very obviously Outlawed lite.
Seraphina – Rachel Hartman
I love the worldbuilding, but oh god, I need to stop trying to read this right before bed when I'm dead on my feet and can't pay it proper attention.
Heaven Official's Blessing vol. 1 – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
The translation is worlds better than that of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, but as with Seraphina, I'm trying to read this one too late in the evening to focus on it.
Dracula – Bram Stoker
Still for Dracula Daily.
What I’m Reading Next
This week I picked up Lucifer vol. 1 by Mike Carey et al.
I also jettisoned a fair number of hardback shelf-sitters that I was unlikely to pick up any time soon: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdich (I have this in ebook anyway), Living Yoga by Georg Feuerstein, Flook by Christopher Moore, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, and The Overstory by Richard Powers.
これで以上です。
Saturday the friends who have been running monthly virtual trivia since the early days of the pandemic hosted a mixed virtual/in-person game, the first in-person one we've been able to do since winter 2019. My team won in a stunning wager-round upset, based on our knowledge of some truly obscure, useless facts. This was followed by a birthday party for a second set of friends.
Sunday two good friends were married. They'd planned a beautiful outdoor (regional) destination wedding. So of course it rained. Luckily, the venue was able to move them into an indoor space, which was also quite pretty, at the last minute. The ceremony was lovely, the guests were lovely, I danced a lot, so did everyone else, and it was just an all-around excellent time.
Monday I stayed up into the wee hours of Tuesday morning to watch the total lunar eclipse. I've seen many partial lunar eclipses, but this was the first total eclipse I've been able to watch since, hmm, 1998, and I was very excited for it. They'd been predicting mild temperatures and clear skies in the week leading up to the event, so of course a massive bank of clouds rolled in at about 4:00 pm and parked itself directly overhead the next seven hours. Undaunted, I went out for a walk at about 10:40. At 11:20 I finally found somewhere where the moon was partially visible through the clouds, and there I watched until about 1:30 in the morning. I'm glad I persisted, because it was beautiful. As a bonus, someone had put a sadly mistreated monstera out on the street, so I gained a new hausplernt on my way back home.
Tuesday I saw The Hu in concert. God, these guys put on a great show. The first time I saw them, they played their (at the time unreleased) album twice through, and the two singles a third time during the encore, because they were so new they didn't have any other songs. When we saw them again last summer, the album was out and they had about another half-an-album's worth of banging new material. We got to hear those songs again last night, and they were as good as I'd remembered. Bonus: I was able to pick up a t-shirt for my nephew's birthday. (I gifted ma soeur The Gereg for Thingsgiving the year it came out; for the first two years of his life my nephew wouldn't go to bed or anywhere in the car unless it was playing. Me: "I hope you're not tired of it." Ma soeur: "Hell no! I listen to it when I'm running too." So I think the t-shirt will please.) To summarize: The Hu is freaking awesome, the crowds have some of the best energy of any live shows I've been to, and I would see them every day of the week if I could.
What I Finished Reading This Week
[ ] – [ ]
For reasons.
What I Am Currently Reading
[ ] – [ ]
A different unnamed book than the above; also for reasons.
Upright Women Wanted – Sarah Gailey
So far this isn't a bad novella, but it's very obviously Outlawed lite.
Seraphina – Rachel Hartman
I love the worldbuilding, but oh god, I need to stop trying to read this right before bed when I'm dead on my feet and can't pay it proper attention.
Heaven Official's Blessing vol. 1 – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
The translation is worlds better than that of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, but as with Seraphina, I'm trying to read this one too late in the evening to focus on it.
Dracula – Bram Stoker
Still for Dracula Daily.
What I’m Reading Next
This week I picked up Lucifer vol. 1 by Mike Carey et al.
I also jettisoned a fair number of hardback shelf-sitters that I was unlikely to pick up any time soon: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdich (I have this in ebook anyway), Living Yoga by Georg Feuerstein, Flook by Christopher Moore, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, and The Overstory by Richard Powers.
これで以上です。
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I got to see the lunar eclipse as well although I did have to outmaneuver a cloud that wanted to be right in the way.
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Also glad you're enjoying Seraphina--I have a huge soft spot for it.
he translation is worlds better than that of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation,
Good to know! I wasn't sure I was going to both reading the other MXTX books, but if their translations are better, I might just see if I can get them from the library.
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I read the first Scum Villain's Self-Saving System volume before Grandmaster and the translation was solidly decent, which is why I was so caught off-guard by how bad the latter's translation was. So far, none of the three MXTX translations are as good as the translations of non-danmei C-novels that I've read, but the other two aren't anywhere as bad as Grandmaster. So it might be worth checking them out from the library, or even buying if cheap used volumes are available.
I'm hoping to really dig into Seraphina this weekend. I know multiple folks who have really enjoyed it, and even from the little I've read, I think I will too!
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I really hope you enjoy Seraphina!
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