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What a month it has been: insanity next door, craziness at work, a car fiasco that's stretching into its fifth day, tons of D&D (including a nine-hour mini painting session and the final session of a 2+ year campaign), Fever Ray's opening show, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and a ton more. I've also squeezed in some reading here and there.
What I Finished Reading This Week
The Star Factory – Ciaran Carson
It’s been 17 years since I read this volume, and, unsurprisingly given its author, it stands the test of time. Carson’s craft is just incredible here: word choice, theme, the way seemingly random and disparate topics and musings link together in unanticipated ways long after you’ve forgotten he introduced them. Unlike the first time I read it and sped through the text, this time I took it a few chapters at a time and noticed completely different things about it (for instance, the references to the trauma and violence during five decades of Belfast history landed with me much harder than they did during my first read). Like all of Carson's work, this is a fascinating, eclectic volume, and one I'll definitely read again.
The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 1 – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
I enjoyed this one more the second time around, knowing how many of what appear to be completely random encounters and situations actually have major roles to play later in the story.
Black Star Bright Dawn – Scott O’Dell
One of the few O’Dell books I didn’t read in childhood, Black Star Bright Dawn is the story of an Inuit girl from rural Alaska who’s suddenly tapped to race in the Iditarod. Unsurprisingly it is a really well-written book; what did surprise me was how little ultimately went wrong for its protagonist in comparison to other O’Dell volumes, where the triumphs are much more melancholy, bittersweet, or qualified. I enjoyed it as an adult and would probably have loved it as a kid.
What I Finished Reading In Weeks Past
The Rag Tree – D.P. Costello
This book is objectively bad, but it was exactly the sort of empty calorie reading that's suited to interminable air travel, which was the situation I was in while reading it. There’s no plot to speak of (alternately, there are dozens of half-baked plots that Costello never expands on), characterization (let alone character development) is non-existent, and it’s very much evident that the book was written over 20 odd years: cell phones and the Internet exist on one page, but not the next. Every piece of dialogue for half a dozen pages starts with “sure” (“Sure I saw you at the pub last night,” “Sure the countryside is lovely this time of year”) before Costello stops using "sure" in favor of amending “t’all” to every bit of dialogue. That lasts for another half dozen pages until he drops it and has characters use the word “after” in front of every verb for a bit, then that disappears to be replaced with the next bit of “authentic” dialect. And so on. Scatology is my least favorite type of humor, but it’s definitely Costello’s and he thinks he’s deploying it far more cleverly than he is. (Example: One main character, a detective who’s spent the book filming the female protagonist naked or having sex with her boyfriend, dies when an errant firework from a nearby music festival flies into his rectum and detonates as he’s hiding in a tree, videotaping her yet again. Hur-hur.) So yeah. As I said, this is an objectively bad book and one that I will never touch again, but it was the right piece-of-crap book for my mental capacity at the time of reading.
The Burning Swift – Joseph Elliott
I put off reading this one for so long because once it read it, the series would be over forever. Well, I’ve read it now, and I will just say that this is a fine conclusion to one of the most original fantasy series I’ve encountered in ages. I will happily read anything Elliott publishes in the future, sight unseen, on the strength of this series.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies – Heather Fawcett
This one didn't transport me, but it certainly entertained. Fawcett writes wonderfully arbitrary fey and an excellently atmospheric faerie otherworld that put me in mind of Under the Pendulum Sun, and if the romantic interest was more than a little inspired by Howl's Moving Castle, well, I like Howl's Moving Castle. Fawcett also upends common genre tropes (think logic-driven, misanthropic male love interests and manic pixie dream girls) in ways that are pretty darn refreshing. I'll definitely check out anything else she writes when it publishes.
Cyber Persistence Theory – Michael Fishenkeller, Emily Goldman, & Richard Harknett
The authors’ ideas are intriguing and would have made for an excellent academic article. But they aren’t robust enough to fill the book said authors were on the hook to write, and they very clearly met that contractually obligated page count by reiterating their premise nearly verbatim on almost every page, in the most clunky and verbose language possible.
What I Did Not Finish
Drink Better Beer – Joshua Bernstein
This book was beautifully photographed and lavishly produced, but the text is almost wholly comprised of previously published marketing copy, versus anything informative about the topic.
What I Am Currently Reading
Guided Tarot – Stefanie Capoli
A fast if thus far unoriginal read.
A Dossan of Heather – Jean Duval
For some reason, this one was wholly off my radar during my heyday of tunebook buying. I’m glad I got my hands on it now.
Blackheart Knights – Laure Eve
This book is not bad by any means, but for whatever reason it’s one that I can put down without feeling any urgency to pick it back up again.
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms – Charlie Holmberg
A fifth of the way in, this book features all the things I like about Holmberg’s writing. That’s been true for some of her previous books that went downhill around this point, but I’m hoping that trend doesn’t hold true here.
Chinese Communist Espionage – Peter Mattis
Interesting, but requiring more brainpower than I have to give it right now..
The Silver Bough vol. 4 – F. Marian McNeill
I get the sense that this one is composed of dribs and drabs McNeill edited out of the preceding three volumes.
Cult of the Dead Cow – Joseph Menn
I’m picking away at this one as I wait for various auto shops to return my calls and various auto technicians to arrive.
What I’m Reading Next
Amazon’s bullshit decision to close Book Depository sent me on a book acquisition spiral. Ironically, none of those books came from Book Depository. Still, I will miss that site.
This week I acquired Geraldine Cotter’s Irish Session Tunes, Jean Duval’s A Dossan of Heather, F. Marian McNeill’s The Scots Cellar, Clare McKenna’s The Irish Tin Whistle, Paul McNevin’s The Irish Fiddle, Ava Reid’s Juniper & Thorn, and Robin Williamson’s English, Welsh, Scottish & Irish Fiddle Tunes.
Last week, I acquired Joshua Bernstein’s Drink Better Beer and Scott O’Dell’s Black Star, Bright Dawn. In previous weeks, I acquired Saliha Ahmed’s Khazana, Monisha Bharadwaj’s The Indian Cooking Course, Nagisse Benkkabou’s Casablanca, Stefanie Caponi’s Guided Tarot, Anni Kravi’s Porridge, and Wagamama: Feed Your Soul (author uncredited).
これで以上です。
What I Finished Reading This Week
The Star Factory – Ciaran Carson
It’s been 17 years since I read this volume, and, unsurprisingly given its author, it stands the test of time. Carson’s craft is just incredible here: word choice, theme, the way seemingly random and disparate topics and musings link together in unanticipated ways long after you’ve forgotten he introduced them. Unlike the first time I read it and sped through the text, this time I took it a few chapters at a time and noticed completely different things about it (for instance, the references to the trauma and violence during five decades of Belfast history landed with me much harder than they did during my first read). Like all of Carson's work, this is a fascinating, eclectic volume, and one I'll definitely read again.
The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 1 – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
I enjoyed this one more the second time around, knowing how many of what appear to be completely random encounters and situations actually have major roles to play later in the story.
Black Star Bright Dawn – Scott O’Dell
One of the few O’Dell books I didn’t read in childhood, Black Star Bright Dawn is the story of an Inuit girl from rural Alaska who’s suddenly tapped to race in the Iditarod. Unsurprisingly it is a really well-written book; what did surprise me was how little ultimately went wrong for its protagonist in comparison to other O’Dell volumes, where the triumphs are much more melancholy, bittersweet, or qualified. I enjoyed it as an adult and would probably have loved it as a kid.
What I Finished Reading In Weeks Past
The Rag Tree – D.P. Costello
This book is objectively bad, but it was exactly the sort of empty calorie reading that's suited to interminable air travel, which was the situation I was in while reading it. There’s no plot to speak of (alternately, there are dozens of half-baked plots that Costello never expands on), characterization (let alone character development) is non-existent, and it’s very much evident that the book was written over 20 odd years: cell phones and the Internet exist on one page, but not the next. Every piece of dialogue for half a dozen pages starts with “sure” (“Sure I saw you at the pub last night,” “Sure the countryside is lovely this time of year”) before Costello stops using "sure" in favor of amending “t’all” to every bit of dialogue. That lasts for another half dozen pages until he drops it and has characters use the word “after” in front of every verb for a bit, then that disappears to be replaced with the next bit of “authentic” dialect. And so on. Scatology is my least favorite type of humor, but it’s definitely Costello’s and he thinks he’s deploying it far more cleverly than he is. (Example: One main character, a detective who’s spent the book filming the female protagonist naked or having sex with her boyfriend, dies when an errant firework from a nearby music festival flies into his rectum and detonates as he’s hiding in a tree, videotaping her yet again. Hur-hur.) So yeah. As I said, this is an objectively bad book and one that I will never touch again, but it was the right piece-of-crap book for my mental capacity at the time of reading.
The Burning Swift – Joseph Elliott
I put off reading this one for so long because once it read it, the series would be over forever. Well, I’ve read it now, and I will just say that this is a fine conclusion to one of the most original fantasy series I’ve encountered in ages. I will happily read anything Elliott publishes in the future, sight unseen, on the strength of this series.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies – Heather Fawcett
This one didn't transport me, but it certainly entertained. Fawcett writes wonderfully arbitrary fey and an excellently atmospheric faerie otherworld that put me in mind of Under the Pendulum Sun, and if the romantic interest was more than a little inspired by Howl's Moving Castle, well, I like Howl's Moving Castle. Fawcett also upends common genre tropes (think logic-driven, misanthropic male love interests and manic pixie dream girls) in ways that are pretty darn refreshing. I'll definitely check out anything else she writes when it publishes.
Cyber Persistence Theory – Michael Fishenkeller, Emily Goldman, & Richard Harknett
The authors’ ideas are intriguing and would have made for an excellent academic article. But they aren’t robust enough to fill the book said authors were on the hook to write, and they very clearly met that contractually obligated page count by reiterating their premise nearly verbatim on almost every page, in the most clunky and verbose language possible.
What I Did Not Finish
Drink Better Beer – Joshua Bernstein
This book was beautifully photographed and lavishly produced, but the text is almost wholly comprised of previously published marketing copy, versus anything informative about the topic.
What I Am Currently Reading
Guided Tarot – Stefanie Capoli
A fast if thus far unoriginal read.
A Dossan of Heather – Jean Duval
For some reason, this one was wholly off my radar during my heyday of tunebook buying. I’m glad I got my hands on it now.
Blackheart Knights – Laure Eve
This book is not bad by any means, but for whatever reason it’s one that I can put down without feeling any urgency to pick it back up again.
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms – Charlie Holmberg
A fifth of the way in, this book features all the things I like about Holmberg’s writing. That’s been true for some of her previous books that went downhill around this point, but I’m hoping that trend doesn’t hold true here.
Chinese Communist Espionage – Peter Mattis
Interesting, but requiring more brainpower than I have to give it right now..
The Silver Bough vol. 4 – F. Marian McNeill
I get the sense that this one is composed of dribs and drabs McNeill edited out of the preceding three volumes.
Cult of the Dead Cow – Joseph Menn
I’m picking away at this one as I wait for various auto shops to return my calls and various auto technicians to arrive.
What I’m Reading Next
Amazon’s bullshit decision to close Book Depository sent me on a book acquisition spiral. Ironically, none of those books came from Book Depository. Still, I will miss that site.
This week I acquired Geraldine Cotter’s Irish Session Tunes, Jean Duval’s A Dossan of Heather, F. Marian McNeill’s The Scots Cellar, Clare McKenna’s The Irish Tin Whistle, Paul McNevin’s The Irish Fiddle, Ava Reid’s Juniper & Thorn, and Robin Williamson’s English, Welsh, Scottish & Irish Fiddle Tunes.
Last week, I acquired Joshua Bernstein’s Drink Better Beer and Scott O’Dell’s Black Star, Bright Dawn. In previous weeks, I acquired Saliha Ahmed’s Khazana, Monisha Bharadwaj’s The Indian Cooking Course, Nagisse Benkkabou’s Casablanca, Stefanie Caponi’s Guided Tarot, Anni Kravi’s Porridge, and Wagamama: Feed Your Soul (author uncredited).
これで以上です。
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The car fiasco has (largely) been resolved--thanks for the good wishes!