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What are you reading these days?
What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction or poetry, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk about it a bit.
What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction or poetry, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk about it a bit.
Just finished the Book Thief which is beautifully written and sad.
Also finished Eva Luna by Isabelle Allende. The story was full of surprises, including a trans character, not common at the time it was written. It's set in an unnamed latin american country. It kept me interested and invested in the story.
I finally finished Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I really loved Gideon the Ninth - super entertaining and just fantastic throughout. Harrow, on the other hand, was mostly a slog for me. It was written to be deliberately confusing which really got on my nerves. It was less so mystery and more so outright confusion. I had a really hard time staying focused while reading and had more lapses in attention than I usually do when reading.
Spoilers below.
I posted 2 months about it and while those who replied to me are totally right that it really does all get explained, and it's super satisfying.. but I just don't know that it was quite worth the wait. I read some Goodreads reviews that really reflect how I feel about this book, this review I agree with a lot. Also this. I could keep going but this one in particular can more or less speak for me:
So yeah I felt like I had a lot of work to do. I'm already a very slow reader so that doesn't help. I still love the universe and the characters, but 350-400 pages of this was way too much. If the book had been half as long or if the payoff had come sooner, then maybe I would have loved it. The biggest mistake Muir made in Harrow is that the snark and comedy from Gideon is almost entirely absent from those first 70% of Harrow. I think I would have been fine with being confused if those dozens of chapters were still written like Gideon, but most of it just wasn't entertaining or exciting. There were cool things with for example Ortus. And the threesome was hilarious. So the lack of fun reading is also why Harrow was somewhat disappointing for me - I'm still ultimately leaning towards it being an overall worthwhile read despite there being these very large bumps in the road. Perhaps my expectations were also too high? To quote yet another review: "I might be a Gideon fan, not necessarily a Tamsyn Muir fan."
Harrow the Ninth was 3/5 for me (the end really does make up for a lot) whereas Gideon the Ninth was 5/5.
Up next is book 3, Nona the Ninth. Honestly I think it's probably mostly because I already bought it that I started it. I'm about 50 pages into it and I like it a lot so far!
I think you'll enjoy Nona more, it's still confusing but, less so, and though your main POV lacks snark, she has earnestness (with plenty of snark coming from those that surround her )
I really enjoyed Harrow, personally, but it came from me really wanting to figure out the mystery of it all, and from going back and finding all sorts of clues upon re-read. Re-reads of all three books reveal things about the entire story, whet Harrow was doing during GtN, what things John Gaius is saying in HtN (there's a point where he makes a Kumbaya, my Lord comment and another where he absolutely says something like Jesus Christ but they're nonsense words to Harrow) that let you in on bits of what happened to get things to this point 10k years ago.
It's definitely the hardest read of the three because of thar confusing framing. And it makes sense how you felt! You're definitely not alone. I hope Nona vibes with you. Or at least that you meet Noodle.
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I'm reading the Three body problem and pride and prejudice at this moment.
But I'm thinking of first finishing the Three body problem because the way of writing is so different between the two that it kinda breaks my flow.
The Vorkosigan Saga: I finished The Warrior's Apprentice and I think that Miles would have really vibed with me at 15. Today I'm a bit over his casual sexism (given his mother I'd think he wouldn't have adopted that bit of his society quite as much as he did even if he's "good" for a Barrayaran) and him being a 17 year old that lies so hard he wins in the end, mostly accidentally. But I get the appeal.
Scales and Sensibility - a regency novel where every lady must have a dragon on her shoulder. This was fun for the "Bridgerton is good but I find Austen herself boring" sort. It follows one of 3 orphaned sisters, who have been split up by family so no one is unjustly burdened in taking care of them. Our MC is essentially the maid to her cousin before running away and running into a handsome and kind gentleman and his scholarly friend. Then magic happens, literally. It bopped along and I really appreciated it avoiding many of the traditional tropes around lies in romance/romcom/romantasy stories - there are lies for certain but they're far more open among our main potential couple, just hidden from everyone else. Worth a read on KU or with a few bucks on Kindle for sure.
Cascade Failure - reminiscent of Firefly in its way of being a bit grittier but still far more speculative - FTL jumps and AIs for example - Jal is labeled a deserter from The Guild. He's found by an old friend (and his AI captain/ship) but they stumble on a distress call and get wrapped up in a much larger problem, giving Jal time to become part of the family. Can they really turn him in? Should they? Excited to pick up the sequel.
Rereading the Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes due to the Unspoiled podcast covering it. (Highly recommend the podcast!) I am having the experience of recalling nothing about this book except it being about President Snow, until I listen to it and then remembering it again. Having reread the original trilogy recently, which definitely holds up*, I can't tell if this says something about the quality of the prequel or just that I only read it once a while ago.
*The movies have absolutely influenced how most people think of the books, along with general derision for YA and such. They're really good at conveying things like PTSD, not just from the games but the trauma of living in the districts and nearly starving, and how absolutely vapid the reality show that is the games has become.
I always forget that Bujold even wrote these books. The ones that I have read have been enjoyable, especially Mirror Dance, though it goes to some very dark places.
If you haven't, I hope you get around to her books set in the World of Five Gods. The Curse of Chalion is my favorite, and one of my favorite books of all time, but they are all good, including the Penric and Desdemona short stories.
She has another fantasy series called the Sharing Knife that I read a long time ago, but it honestly did not have much impact, as I can barely remember anything about it.
Apparently I'd missed her entirely as a teen. I'm absolutely up for trying her other series. Fortunately when I can find them they're often available on library apps, unfortunately when they're not they're somewhat harder to get.
But it's been a fun ride so far. Even if Miles is the space version of The Great Brain from the series of the same name.
I've been reading about the Medici:
currently, Death in Florence: The Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the Soul of a Renaissance City and Isabella de' Medici: The Glorious Life and Tragic End of a Renaissance Princess
I would recommend all of these, although I am starting to be familiar enough with the years of Giovanni di Bicci through Lorenzo the Magnificent that I don't really want to read more about this part of the dynasty. But, Savonarola fascinates me and Isabella is a few generations later so I think I will finish these two and then move onto another topic.
In fiction, I read The Daughters' War by Christopher Buehlman, which is just gorgeous. I think my closest comparison is to the film Letters from Iwo Jima although it's been a while since I saw that movie - but I recall it being about human relationships in the horrors of war, which is this book big time.
Also adored Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis, A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey, and Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell.