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Reading Wednesday
Oct. 14th, 2020 07:54 pmJust finished:
Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. I have read the first but not yet written it up (TLDR: hated the beginning, was going to DNF until I got nine chapters in and Gideon took a vow of silence and suddenly I found it much more interesting. Ended up loving the middle and liking but reserving judgment on the end). This follows Harrow (obviously) as she takes a uniquely direct approach to dealing with grief while learning how to be a lyctor with her equally dysfunctional colleagues and God, in the face of approaching nightmare. Harrow is less pugnacious than Gideon and less prone to tumblr-speak, although God’s commitment to memes more than compensates. The fanfic elements (especially the AUs) worked really well for me here, actually, and maybe it’s my own fannish history that makes these work while the memes are less convincing. There is also probably about 20% too much anatomy but I did like the bone marrow soup.
( ”Spoilers.” )
Currently reading:
Endell Street, by Wendy Moore. Nonfiction about an all-female WWI hospital in London - this is fascinating but does lack narrative tension and is now so overdue that the library are sending me invoices for replacement costs. Must finish.
Consolation Songs, edited by Iona Datt Sharma - am enjoying this.
I am hopping between a bunch of romances in the hope something will stick.
The Prodigal, TA Moore. Is convicted felon Morgan really Boyd’s long-lost childhood friend Sammy, missing presumed dead fifteen years ago? Half the book is in Morgan’s pov and yet so far is strangely coy on the answer, which irks me.
Skin and Bone, (also) TA Moore. Second in series about a K9 officer and the FBI agent he has an on-again, off-again relationship with. The dog in this, Bournville, is fantastic, and I do like the lead couple but the balance between case and relationship in this isn’t quite working yet for me.
The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows, Olivia Waite. I really don’t like the cover on this but should get over myself and read past the first 50 pages, which are fine.
Drawn In, Barbara Elsborg. Undercover cop being fucked by the criminal boss he’s supposed to be investigating hooks up with PI who has issues. Violence and bad decisions.
The Remaking of Corbin Wale, Roan Parrish. Alex returns to his home town after losing partner and job, turns his parents’ coffee place into the bakery he’s always dreamed of running, and falls for the mysterious fragile man who sits in the bakery drawing for hours. Corbin’s vulnerability and weirdness (so far) are so massively overstated that I expect him to collapse into a pile of broken twigs in the next strong breeze.
Full English, Rachel Spangler. American author Emma runs away after her divorce to a small town in the North East of England, where a new neighbour may be just what she needs (f/f). The author is an American who has lived there and who is obviously working through her feelings about her encounters there with British plumbing and electricity :D
Up next:
Picking something and sticking with it would be a start, but I also have the fourth of Sherry Thomas’ Lady Sherlock series and I’ve also picked up Marie Brennan’s Writing Fight Scenes.
Audiobooks:
I've been experimenting with audiobooks for long drives and trips to the dentist, and started with romances but then naturally hit an explicit sex scene while having my tooth prepped for a crown and became paranoid about the dentist overhearing. So I was looking for something else, and discovered that the library has the audiobooks of Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series, which I have never actually read but always intended to (I never seem to stumble across the first volume of the first quartet, it's always the third volume of the second or similar). They are a full-cast production with Pierce herself reading the narrative and various actors doing the dialogue, and they are perfect for dental or other distractions. I've listened to Sandry's Book and am now about a third of the way through Tris' Book.
Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir. I have read the first but not yet written it up (TLDR: hated the beginning, was going to DNF until I got nine chapters in and Gideon took a vow of silence and suddenly I found it much more interesting. Ended up loving the middle and liking but reserving judgment on the end). This follows Harrow (obviously) as she takes a uniquely direct approach to dealing with grief while learning how to be a lyctor with her equally dysfunctional colleagues and God, in the face of approaching nightmare. Harrow is less pugnacious than Gideon and less prone to tumblr-speak, although God’s commitment to memes more than compensates. The fanfic elements (especially the AUs) worked really well for me here, actually, and maybe it’s my own fannish history that makes these work while the memes are less convincing. There is also probably about 20% too much anatomy but I did like the bone marrow soup.
( ”Spoilers.” )
Currently reading:
Endell Street, by Wendy Moore. Nonfiction about an all-female WWI hospital in London - this is fascinating but does lack narrative tension and is now so overdue that the library are sending me invoices for replacement costs. Must finish.
Consolation Songs, edited by Iona Datt Sharma - am enjoying this.
I am hopping between a bunch of romances in the hope something will stick.
The Prodigal, TA Moore. Is convicted felon Morgan really Boyd’s long-lost childhood friend Sammy, missing presumed dead fifteen years ago? Half the book is in Morgan’s pov and yet so far is strangely coy on the answer, which irks me.
Skin and Bone, (also) TA Moore. Second in series about a K9 officer and the FBI agent he has an on-again, off-again relationship with. The dog in this, Bournville, is fantastic, and I do like the lead couple but the balance between case and relationship in this isn’t quite working yet for me.
The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows, Olivia Waite. I really don’t like the cover on this but should get over myself and read past the first 50 pages, which are fine.
Drawn In, Barbara Elsborg. Undercover cop being fucked by the criminal boss he’s supposed to be investigating hooks up with PI who has issues. Violence and bad decisions.
The Remaking of Corbin Wale, Roan Parrish. Alex returns to his home town after losing partner and job, turns his parents’ coffee place into the bakery he’s always dreamed of running, and falls for the mysterious fragile man who sits in the bakery drawing for hours. Corbin’s vulnerability and weirdness (so far) are so massively overstated that I expect him to collapse into a pile of broken twigs in the next strong breeze.
Full English, Rachel Spangler. American author Emma runs away after her divorce to a small town in the North East of England, where a new neighbour may be just what she needs (f/f). The author is an American who has lived there and who is obviously working through her feelings about her encounters there with British plumbing and electricity :D
Up next:
Picking something and sticking with it would be a start, but I also have the fourth of Sherry Thomas’ Lady Sherlock series and I’ve also picked up Marie Brennan’s Writing Fight Scenes.
Audiobooks:
I've been experimenting with audiobooks for long drives and trips to the dentist, and started with romances but then naturally hit an explicit sex scene while having my tooth prepped for a crown and became paranoid about the dentist overhearing. So I was looking for something else, and discovered that the library has the audiobooks of Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series, which I have never actually read but always intended to (I never seem to stumble across the first volume of the first quartet, it's always the third volume of the second or similar). They are a full-cast production with Pierce herself reading the narrative and various actors doing the dialogue, and they are perfect for dental or other distractions. I've listened to Sandry's Book and am now about a third of the way through Tris' Book.
