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Well, well, well, look what I'm trying to get back into the habit of posting. Without further ado:
What I Just Finished Reading
The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle
What a slog. There's some beautiful descriptive language, but it’s spoiled by Beagle’s overly precious attempts at humor and a cast of thoroughly unlikable characters. The titular unicorn spends the first half of the volume as an irritatingly aloof unicorn, and the second half as a silent, mopey female whose only selling point (I suppose) is her silent, mopey beauty. The main character, a stage magician named Schmendrick, spends 99 percent of the book whining about his lack of magical talent only to become the most famed magician in the land during the climax, not through any personal effort on his part, but just because. ...Hurray?
Strange Practice – Vivian Shaw
This fun, light read introduces Dr. Greta Helsing, physician to the nonhuman residents of London. She’s drawn, alongside a cast of literary supernatural creatures, into battle with a...to be honest, this is the weakest part of the novel, more a means to introduce the ensemble cast of monsters than a plot element in its own right. But I’m okay with that because their interactions are delightful.
The Ballad of Black Tom – Victor LaValle
This novella re-imagines one of H.P. Lovecraft’s problematic stories. In other words, it’s fanfic and reads like it, in its best ways (i.e., it fills in underdeveloped and deeply troublesome aspects of the original), and in its worst (frequently clunky, obviously only lightly edited prose).
What I Am Currently Reading
Intermediate Korean - Andrew Sangpil Byon
The Routledge grammar workbooks are indispensable.
Thelema – Colin D. Campbell
Campbell never met an adjective he didn’t immediately cram into a sentence alongside seven others. It’s unfortunate, because the topic deserves a good, “Idiot’s Guide” overview beyond what’s available on Wikipedia.
The Tain – Ciaran Carson
Be warned: Carson spoils the major plot arcs in his introduction on the Tain’s origins and the differences between the extant versions. That said, the discussion is interesting in its own right, and I’m excited to proceed to the tale itself.
古事記 – 福永武彦 (Kojiki – Fukunaga Takehiko)
Thankfully translated into modern Japanese. Hopefully the genealogies are more interesting when written in kanji.
What I'm Reading Next
Assuming I finish any of these volumes this week, I’ll probably reread Liu and Saneda’s Monstress.
これで以上です。
What I Just Finished Reading
The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle
What a slog. There's some beautiful descriptive language, but it’s spoiled by Beagle’s overly precious attempts at humor and a cast of thoroughly unlikable characters. The titular unicorn spends the first half of the volume as an irritatingly aloof unicorn, and the second half as a silent, mopey female whose only selling point (I suppose) is her silent, mopey beauty. The main character, a stage magician named Schmendrick, spends 99 percent of the book whining about his lack of magical talent only to become the most famed magician in the land during the climax, not through any personal effort on his part, but just because. ...Hurray?
Strange Practice – Vivian Shaw
This fun, light read introduces Dr. Greta Helsing, physician to the nonhuman residents of London. She’s drawn, alongside a cast of literary supernatural creatures, into battle with a...to be honest, this is the weakest part of the novel, more a means to introduce the ensemble cast of monsters than a plot element in its own right. But I’m okay with that because their interactions are delightful.
The Ballad of Black Tom – Victor LaValle
This novella re-imagines one of H.P. Lovecraft’s problematic stories. In other words, it’s fanfic and reads like it, in its best ways (i.e., it fills in underdeveloped and deeply troublesome aspects of the original), and in its worst (frequently clunky, obviously only lightly edited prose).
What I Am Currently Reading
Intermediate Korean - Andrew Sangpil Byon
The Routledge grammar workbooks are indispensable.
Thelema – Colin D. Campbell
Campbell never met an adjective he didn’t immediately cram into a sentence alongside seven others. It’s unfortunate, because the topic deserves a good, “Idiot’s Guide” overview beyond what’s available on Wikipedia.
The Tain – Ciaran Carson
Be warned: Carson spoils the major plot arcs in his introduction on the Tain’s origins and the differences between the extant versions. That said, the discussion is interesting in its own right, and I’m excited to proceed to the tale itself.
古事記 – 福永武彦 (Kojiki – Fukunaga Takehiko)
Thankfully translated into modern Japanese. Hopefully the genealogies are more interesting when written in kanji.
What I'm Reading Next
Assuming I finish any of these volumes this week, I’ll probably reread Liu and Saneda’s Monstress.
これで以上です。
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