Wednesday reading meme, post Hugos!
As I emerge, blinking, from the depths of months of Hugo reading…
Finished reading:
Vox Machina : Origins (I, graphic novel)
I'd heard...not great things? But they were going Cheap, and I'd been hearing Much better things about Origins II that's just rolling off the press now, so.
Vox Machina : Origins I, Issue 1 wow, so Matt Colville really doesn't like Vex, huh? (I don't know the difference between a 'story by' and a 'script' credit, but I'm stubbornly in denial that Matt Mercer might have written Vex that cold) Having said that, the twins banter actually still made me laugh aloud, and the comedic timing with Keyleth was pitch-perfect. So that's rather large something. And I like the art a lot.
Issue 2...it's sort of a problem when I legit feel more for the random nameless paladins and their dead party member, and like Tiberius Stormlord, more than Grog or Scanlan. Like, that's not great. Then on into Issues 3-6 The comedic timing of the twins becomes actual sniping and arguing when they're alone, apparently, and I hate that. The art is still impressive, but I'm feeling like this is a comic that's really only for diehard fans, and I say that as someone who's watched nearly the first quarter of campaign 1. Or it's just not that great. I have more hopes for Origins II, given that's being helmed by the woman who's also writing/helming the animated series. Also I've heard people who've griped about I speak far more warmly about II
The crane wife by CJ Hauser. Okay, it's not a book, but I still want to quietly cup it in my hands and offer it to people. It's a memoir article by a woman who cancelled her wedding a week out from the big day, and why, and how she's grappling with her life, and it's fucking devastatingly good. Content notes for infidelity, but also subtle, brutally effective gaslighting and emotional abuse. It made me cry, and made me feel infinitely fragile and also bigger than I had been before I started it. Set aside ten minutes to read it, and then time after for a quiet sit and a cup of tea, or something.
Currently reading:
Blackout: how is energy-rich Australia running out of energy? by Matthew Warren The 'setting of the basic groundwork' of the early chapters was also 'teetering in the edges of my ability to understand and retain'. A diagram or two might have helped. I'm deep in the chapter on political decisions that got us to now, and all the places that I'm seeing where things could have been achingly different. I didn't know Melbourne was one of the first cities in the world to have a(n embryonic) electricity grid. It's sort of inescapably dry, but still good, necessary knowledge to have.
The gentleman’s guide to vice & virtue by Mackenzi Lee. Well-to-do son of an earl goes on his Grand Tour/1800s gap year. This is charming and queer and well-written, and often deftly funny in that sort of way that looks effortless but takes real skill. It actually reads like quality fanfic (pleasing tropes especially), which I appreciate in spades in a published book. The author does point out racism and sexism, pointedly. I would have also preferred a stab at the colonialism inherent in both the era and the idea of a Tour, but that might have made it a rather different book. As it is, the writing style carries the day. The plot itself wobbles a little on the fact that while alchemy might have been a serious field of study in the 1800s, we still don’t have a cure for (spoiler redacted), so the main impetus falls a little to the side. At 350 of 520 pages, I'm still enjoying myself, though, and I'm really looking forward to the sequel/companion book which focuses on Felicity, who I'm adoring.
Up next:
Not sure. There's a bunch of things that I've either bought (On eating meat, by Matthew Evans), or been gifted (P&P), plus books that are about to come out any second now…(I'm trying to compile a list)
On eating meat, by Matthew Evans – an ethical omnivore’s take on eating meat
The lady’s guide to petticoats and piracy, by Mackenzi Lee
Family of origin – novel by CJ Hauser of above article, which was released two weeks ago.
Growing Up Queer in Australia, edited by Benjamin Law
Quarterly Essay on Safe Schools, Moral Panic 101, by Benjamin Law
Dead Blondes & Bad Mothers: on monsters & the fear of female power, by Sady Doyle, out 13/8/2019
Yes Yes Yes: Australia’s Journey to Marriage Equality by Shirleene Robinson, Alex Greenwich
How powerful we are, by Sally Rugg, out this month. Another marriage equality campaign book, that I’m looking at specifically because there’s apparently a chapter on the impact on queer Australians during the vote, which is not something that I’ve been able to find any sort of data on at all.
The light brigade by Kameron Hurley – still waiting curiously to see if this is going to make it to Australia
Seafire – N C Parker – girl pirates!
Finished reading:
Vox Machina : Origins (I, graphic novel)
I'd heard...not great things? But they were going Cheap, and I'd been hearing Much better things about Origins II that's just rolling off the press now, so.
Vox Machina : Origins I, Issue 1 wow, so Matt Colville really doesn't like Vex, huh? (I don't know the difference between a 'story by' and a 'script' credit, but I'm stubbornly in denial that Matt Mercer might have written Vex that cold) Having said that, the twins banter actually still made me laugh aloud, and the comedic timing with Keyleth was pitch-perfect. So that's rather large something. And I like the art a lot.
Issue 2...it's sort of a problem when I legit feel more for the random nameless paladins and their dead party member, and like Tiberius Stormlord, more than Grog or Scanlan. Like, that's not great. Then on into Issues 3-6 The comedic timing of the twins becomes actual sniping and arguing when they're alone, apparently, and I hate that. The art is still impressive, but I'm feeling like this is a comic that's really only for diehard fans, and I say that as someone who's watched nearly the first quarter of campaign 1. Or it's just not that great. I have more hopes for Origins II, given that's being helmed by the woman who's also writing/helming the animated series. Also I've heard people who've griped about I speak far more warmly about II
The crane wife by CJ Hauser. Okay, it's not a book, but I still want to quietly cup it in my hands and offer it to people. It's a memoir article by a woman who cancelled her wedding a week out from the big day, and why, and how she's grappling with her life, and it's fucking devastatingly good. Content notes for infidelity, but also subtle, brutally effective gaslighting and emotional abuse. It made me cry, and made me feel infinitely fragile and also bigger than I had been before I started it. Set aside ten minutes to read it, and then time after for a quiet sit and a cup of tea, or something.
Currently reading:
Blackout: how is energy-rich Australia running out of energy? by Matthew Warren The 'setting of the basic groundwork' of the early chapters was also 'teetering in the edges of my ability to understand and retain'. A diagram or two might have helped. I'm deep in the chapter on political decisions that got us to now, and all the places that I'm seeing where things could have been achingly different. I didn't know Melbourne was one of the first cities in the world to have a(n embryonic) electricity grid. It's sort of inescapably dry, but still good, necessary knowledge to have.
The gentleman’s guide to vice & virtue by Mackenzi Lee. Well-to-do son of an earl goes on his Grand Tour/1800s gap year. This is charming and queer and well-written, and often deftly funny in that sort of way that looks effortless but takes real skill. It actually reads like quality fanfic (pleasing tropes especially), which I appreciate in spades in a published book. The author does point out racism and sexism, pointedly. I would have also preferred a stab at the colonialism inherent in both the era and the idea of a Tour, but that might have made it a rather different book. As it is, the writing style carries the day. The plot itself wobbles a little on the fact that while alchemy might have been a serious field of study in the 1800s, we still don’t have a cure for (spoiler redacted), so the main impetus falls a little to the side. At 350 of 520 pages, I'm still enjoying myself, though, and I'm really looking forward to the sequel/companion book which focuses on Felicity, who I'm adoring.
Up next:
Not sure. There's a bunch of things that I've either bought (On eating meat, by Matthew Evans), or been gifted (P&P), plus books that are about to come out any second now…(I'm trying to compile a list)
On eating meat, by Matthew Evans – an ethical omnivore’s take on eating meat
The lady’s guide to petticoats and piracy, by Mackenzi Lee
Family of origin – novel by CJ Hauser of above article, which was released two weeks ago.
Growing Up Queer in Australia, edited by Benjamin Law
Quarterly Essay on Safe Schools, Moral Panic 101, by Benjamin Law
Dead Blondes & Bad Mothers: on monsters & the fear of female power, by Sady Doyle, out 13/8/2019
Yes Yes Yes: Australia’s Journey to Marriage Equality by Shirleene Robinson, Alex Greenwich
How powerful we are, by Sally Rugg, out this month. Another marriage equality campaign book, that I’m looking at specifically because there’s apparently a chapter on the impact on queer Australians during the vote, which is not something that I’ve been able to find any sort of data on at all.
The light brigade by Kameron Hurley – still waiting curiously to see if this is going to make it to Australia
Seafire – N C Parker – girl pirates!