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Ugh. This is one of those Wednesdays that feels like it should be a Friday and keeps chagrining me when I realize that it is not.
What I Finished Reading This Week
Carmina Gadelica vol. 1 — Alexander Carmichael
The Carmina Gadelica is a collection of Scots Gaelic lore, prayers, and songs that Carmichael compiled in the mid- to late 1800s and augmented with his own social observations and travelogues. I'm very much enjoying reading the collection after having encountered excerpts of it in other books for the last several decades. This volume contains a general overview of the cultural milieu that produced this lore and covers prayers, incantations, and songs tied to seasons and feast days, and to various occupations such as fishing, weaving, or cattle husbandry. The Gaelic spelling is pre-orthographic reform, which is a bit challenging but not a terrible obstacle once you adjust to it. Print copies of this collection are rare and expensive, so I was thrilled to be able to purchase a digital copy. But beware: upon reaching the last page I encountered a note from the publisher stating that they hoped I had enjoyed this free ebook. In other words, the editions on amazon are pirated. Don't repeat my mistake by giving the pirates money for something the actual publishers have made available for free.
Ancillary Sword — Ann Leckie
I love Ancillary Justice so much that I would have been happy to read the same novel again masquerading as a sequel. But Ancillary Sword does not retread the same narrative beats—it has a new setting, many new characters, and new conflicts that unfold on an entirely different pace and scale than those of the proceeding volume and it is every bit as good. Leckie, like Megan Whalen Turner, can spin entirely new stories out of an existing cast of characters and situations, and I admire her so much for it. I admit to having initially been bummed that Ancillary Sword wasn't The Breq And Seivarden Show: Season 2, but there's actually quite a lot of this in the volume—it's just not unfolding on the timeline or trajectory you'd first expect. I love how Leckie subverts readers' expectations and doesn't take the easy way out with character development: no one gets a free pass or can avoid doing the hard work. TL;DR—Ancillary Sword is a very different book than Ancillary Justice but every bit as good.
Once Upon a Time in the North — Philip Pullman
This novella explains how Lee Scoresby met Iorek Brynson. As with offerings that fill in parts of the lore not explained in their main series, I kind of preferred not having a definitive canon version of events for this. That said, Once Upon a Time in the North is well written and at times quite tense, and it is enjoyable to see this much younger version of Lee. My edition is the clothbound first printing that includes some beautiful illustrations and a delightfully tongue-in-cheek and macabre board game; apparently not all subsequent printings include some or all of these elements, so caveat lector if you aim to pick this volume up. That said, the full edition is a recommended read for fans of the original series and Lyra's Oxford.
Ghost Music — An Yu
Ghost Music is the story of a young woman and classically trained pianist who lives with her husband and mother-in-law in Beijing. It's beautifully written with some absolutely knock-you-flat sentences; An Yu's language is vividly descriptive and original. There are no trite phrases in use here, and man do I wish I'd come up with Yu's descriptive comparisons for emotional states or interpersonal relationships myself, because they're startling and fresh. This novel is reminiscent of vintage Yoshimoto Banana in its themes, style, pacing, tone, and use of magical realism, so if you like Yoshimoto's work, you will probably really like this novel too.
What I'm Currently Reading
Etiquette Guide to China — Boye Lafayette De Mente & Patrick Wallace
I'll have finished this one by tomorrow.
Ancillary Mercy — Ann Leckie
I'm really slowrolling this one because I don't want the main series to end.
The Last Good Man — Linda Nagata
This is not exactly what I was expecting, but it's still fun enough to read.
Elder Race — Adrian Tchaikovsky
I'm on track to finish this volume by tomorrow as well.
Something Is Killing the Children vol. 4 — James Tynion IV, Werther Dell'edera, & Miquel Muerto
We get into some good backstory in this volume.
What I'm Reading Next
This week I picked up copies of Abbey Jacobsen's Area 51 and Patrick Radden Keefe's Chatter.
これで以上です。
What I Finished Reading This Week
Carmina Gadelica vol. 1 — Alexander Carmichael
The Carmina Gadelica is a collection of Scots Gaelic lore, prayers, and songs that Carmichael compiled in the mid- to late 1800s and augmented with his own social observations and travelogues. I'm very much enjoying reading the collection after having encountered excerpts of it in other books for the last several decades. This volume contains a general overview of the cultural milieu that produced this lore and covers prayers, incantations, and songs tied to seasons and feast days, and to various occupations such as fishing, weaving, or cattle husbandry. The Gaelic spelling is pre-orthographic reform, which is a bit challenging but not a terrible obstacle once you adjust to it. Print copies of this collection are rare and expensive, so I was thrilled to be able to purchase a digital copy. But beware: upon reaching the last page I encountered a note from the publisher stating that they hoped I had enjoyed this free ebook. In other words, the editions on amazon are pirated. Don't repeat my mistake by giving the pirates money for something the actual publishers have made available for free.
Ancillary Sword — Ann Leckie
I love Ancillary Justice so much that I would have been happy to read the same novel again masquerading as a sequel. But Ancillary Sword does not retread the same narrative beats—it has a new setting, many new characters, and new conflicts that unfold on an entirely different pace and scale than those of the proceeding volume and it is every bit as good. Leckie, like Megan Whalen Turner, can spin entirely new stories out of an existing cast of characters and situations, and I admire her so much for it. I admit to having initially been bummed that Ancillary Sword wasn't The Breq And Seivarden Show: Season 2, but there's actually quite a lot of this in the volume—it's just not unfolding on the timeline or trajectory you'd first expect. I love how Leckie subverts readers' expectations and doesn't take the easy way out with character development: no one gets a free pass or can avoid doing the hard work. TL;DR—Ancillary Sword is a very different book than Ancillary Justice but every bit as good.
Once Upon a Time in the North — Philip Pullman
This novella explains how Lee Scoresby met Iorek Brynson. As with offerings that fill in parts of the lore not explained in their main series, I kind of preferred not having a definitive canon version of events for this. That said, Once Upon a Time in the North is well written and at times quite tense, and it is enjoyable to see this much younger version of Lee. My edition is the clothbound first printing that includes some beautiful illustrations and a delightfully tongue-in-cheek and macabre board game; apparently not all subsequent printings include some or all of these elements, so caveat lector if you aim to pick this volume up. That said, the full edition is a recommended read for fans of the original series and Lyra's Oxford.
Ghost Music — An Yu
Ghost Music is the story of a young woman and classically trained pianist who lives with her husband and mother-in-law in Beijing. It's beautifully written with some absolutely knock-you-flat sentences; An Yu's language is vividly descriptive and original. There are no trite phrases in use here, and man do I wish I'd come up with Yu's descriptive comparisons for emotional states or interpersonal relationships myself, because they're startling and fresh. This novel is reminiscent of vintage Yoshimoto Banana in its themes, style, pacing, tone, and use of magical realism, so if you like Yoshimoto's work, you will probably really like this novel too.
What I'm Currently Reading
Etiquette Guide to China — Boye Lafayette De Mente & Patrick Wallace
I'll have finished this one by tomorrow.
Ancillary Mercy — Ann Leckie
I'm really slowrolling this one because I don't want the main series to end.
The Last Good Man — Linda Nagata
This is not exactly what I was expecting, but it's still fun enough to read.
Elder Race — Adrian Tchaikovsky
I'm on track to finish this volume by tomorrow as well.
Something Is Killing the Children vol. 4 — James Tynion IV, Werther Dell'edera, & Miquel Muerto
We get into some good backstory in this volume.
What I'm Reading Next
This week I picked up copies of Abbey Jacobsen's Area 51 and Patrick Radden Keefe's Chatter.
これで以上です。
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