![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
As it’s the first WAIRW of the year, let’s take stock. I read 108 books cover-to-cover last year.
Of the new fiction books, G. Willow Wilson’s The Bird King and Jeanette Ng’s Under The Pendulum Sun were the absolute standouts from the fiction titles and floored me with how good they were. C. S. E. Cooney’s Desdemona and the Deep, Indra Das’ The Devourers, and Sara Pennypacker’s Pax were close runners up. Conversely, Glen Cooks’ The Black Company and Sylvain Neuvel’s Sleeping Giants made me wish the written word had never been invented.
Of the nonfiction titles, David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon was phenomenal; so good that I will not read it again because I am not strong enough to deal with the nightmares it gave me a second time. Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism was timely and thought provoking, even though she reaches a wholly incorrect conclusion regarding surveillance capitalism’s endgame. Conversely, Cal Newport’s Deep Work was superficial dreck masquerading as depth; I don’t understand how it’s received so many glowing testimonials.
What I Just Finished Reading
The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies – Martin Millar
Martin Millar plays tricks, not only on his characters, but on anyone who assumes that his bare bones prose equates to lack of narrative depth. In fact, he writes some of the most intricately plotted fiction around, and The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies stays true to form. The novel is about Aristophanes staging a play as Athens and Sparta negotiate to end the Peloponnesian War. But it’s also about demagogues, and professional rivalry, and age old vendettas versus forgiveness, and the battle between optimism and pessimism, and the power of art, and how class and gender play into all of these things. It’s poignant and funny, and Millar’s brilliant observation and abiding love for theater and his characters shines throughout.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Half-Drowned Prince – Linnea Hartsuyker
This is one of those novels that didn’t take off for me until I was almost half of the way through, but once it gripped me, it gripped me tightly. Unsurprisingly, I’m far more interested in how Hartsuyker’s female protagonists—particularly Svanhild—negotiate the societal constraints of 9th century Norway, than the raping, pillaging, and revenge vendettas of her male leads.
What I'm Reading Next
I acquired no new books this week, in accordance with the 3:1 rule described here. I'll probably focus on finishing one or more of the favorite rereads--Grossman, Monette, or Whalen Turner--I've got ongoing by next week.
これで以上です。
- Twenty-five were nonfiction and the rest were fiction.
- Fifteen were rereads and the rest were new books.
- Sixteen were in graphic format, three were illustrated prose, and the rest were prose.
- Fifteen were in Japanese, one was dual Japanese-English, and one was in translation. Rather shockingly, I read nothing cover-to-cover in either Korean or Indonesian last year.
Of the new fiction books, G. Willow Wilson’s The Bird King and Jeanette Ng’s Under The Pendulum Sun were the absolute standouts from the fiction titles and floored me with how good they were. C. S. E. Cooney’s Desdemona and the Deep, Indra Das’ The Devourers, and Sara Pennypacker’s Pax were close runners up. Conversely, Glen Cooks’ The Black Company and Sylvain Neuvel’s Sleeping Giants made me wish the written word had never been invented.
Of the nonfiction titles, David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon was phenomenal; so good that I will not read it again because I am not strong enough to deal with the nightmares it gave me a second time. Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism was timely and thought provoking, even though she reaches a wholly incorrect conclusion regarding surveillance capitalism’s endgame. Conversely, Cal Newport’s Deep Work was superficial dreck masquerading as depth; I don’t understand how it’s received so many glowing testimonials.
What I Just Finished Reading
The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies – Martin Millar
Martin Millar plays tricks, not only on his characters, but on anyone who assumes that his bare bones prose equates to lack of narrative depth. In fact, he writes some of the most intricately plotted fiction around, and The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies stays true to form. The novel is about Aristophanes staging a play as Athens and Sparta negotiate to end the Peloponnesian War. But it’s also about demagogues, and professional rivalry, and age old vendettas versus forgiveness, and the battle between optimism and pessimism, and the power of art, and how class and gender play into all of these things. It’s poignant and funny, and Millar’s brilliant observation and abiding love for theater and his characters shines throughout.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Half-Drowned Prince – Linnea Hartsuyker
This is one of those novels that didn’t take off for me until I was almost half of the way through, but once it gripped me, it gripped me tightly. Unsurprisingly, I’m far more interested in how Hartsuyker’s female protagonists—particularly Svanhild—negotiate the societal constraints of 9th century Norway, than the raping, pillaging, and revenge vendettas of her male leads.
What I'm Reading Next
I acquired no new books this week, in accordance with the 3:1 rule described here. I'll probably focus on finishing one or more of the favorite rereads--Grossman, Monette, or Whalen Turner--I've got ongoing by next week.
これで以上です。
Tags:
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject