What I'm Reading Wednesday
Oct. 2nd, 2013 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
untonugganRejoice! For whatever reason, my brain has decided to be nice and allow me to read books again without the annoying stumbling over a sentence five times thing until I just give up. This is very exciting, because I haven't been able to read read for oh, three years.
Yes.
I am mostly diving into "teen" fantasy, because that is my pleasure reading and when you've been deprived of reading for quite awhile it's important to nourish that core of you.
What I read recently
I read the entire Frontier Magic series by Patricia C. Wrede (even though I'd already read the first two, I wanted to reread them to refamiliarize myself with the characters before finishing it). Overall, I liked it, though not as much as some of her other works. I do disagree with some of how she created the frontier (i.e. leaving out Native Americans entirely), but as my partner pointed out...the Lewis and Clark expedition minus Sacagawea didn't make it back, did they? And she did a lot of reshuffling of history, and the premise of the book wouldn't have worked if there were people there. Which. Is problematic too. I did really like what she did with trauma especially in the first book, and with meditation techniques, and with women's rights and also the Underground Railroad. So. The ending was also highly satisfying.
Have also been rereading some Pratchett, notably the Tiffany Aching books, which I've already read. Tried to reread the Chronicles of the Necromancer, which is a series I love at least the beginning of, but the book is too damn heavy.
What I'm reading now
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore, which is the third in her Graceling Realm series. I am enjoying it, though not as much as Graceling but more than Fire. It reminds me a lot of what I've read about say, the effects of opening the Stazi archive to the public, versus not doing so with other secret police files in certain other former Soviet Bloc countries. In other words, how does a country deal with a history of atrocities when the main perpetrator is gone, but others must have been complicit or at least accomplices for the power system to work? How far does "following orders" go as an excuse (in the book, there's magic involved, but still)? How does a country heal from violence? And this is how you tell that I'm a history major as well as a reader of fantasy novels...
What I'm going to read soon
Moar Pratchett! I picked up Dodger, which somehow I haven't read yet (probably as it's not Discworld, or maybe it's just never at the library, so I caved and bought a copy for the Pratchett shelf). Also his new book Raising Steam is coming out in March, but that's a long way off. I might make my way through some of the Discworld books I haven't read in awhile, or maybe I'll try something new...
Yes.
I am mostly diving into "teen" fantasy, because that is my pleasure reading and when you've been deprived of reading for quite awhile it's important to nourish that core of you.
What I read recently
I read the entire Frontier Magic series by Patricia C. Wrede (even though I'd already read the first two, I wanted to reread them to refamiliarize myself with the characters before finishing it). Overall, I liked it, though not as much as some of her other works. I do disagree with some of how she created the frontier (i.e. leaving out Native Americans entirely), but as my partner pointed out...the Lewis and Clark expedition minus Sacagawea didn't make it back, did they? And she did a lot of reshuffling of history, and the premise of the book wouldn't have worked if there were people there. Which. Is problematic too. I did really like what she did with trauma especially in the first book, and with meditation techniques, and with women's rights and also the Underground Railroad. So. The ending was also highly satisfying.
Have also been rereading some Pratchett, notably the Tiffany Aching books, which I've already read. Tried to reread the Chronicles of the Necromancer, which is a series I love at least the beginning of, but the book is too damn heavy.
What I'm reading now
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore, which is the third in her Graceling Realm series. I am enjoying it, though not as much as Graceling but more than Fire. It reminds me a lot of what I've read about say, the effects of opening the Stazi archive to the public, versus not doing so with other secret police files in certain other former Soviet Bloc countries. In other words, how does a country deal with a history of atrocities when the main perpetrator is gone, but others must have been complicit or at least accomplices for the power system to work? How far does "following orders" go as an excuse (in the book, there's magic involved, but still)? How does a country heal from violence? And this is how you tell that I'm a history major as well as a reader of fantasy novels...
What I'm going to read soon
Moar Pratchett! I picked up Dodger, which somehow I haven't read yet (probably as it's not Discworld, or maybe it's just never at the library, so I caved and bought a copy for the Pratchett shelf). Also his new book Raising Steam is coming out in March, but that's a long way off. I might make my way through some of the Discworld books I haven't read in awhile, or maybe I'll try something new...
no subject
Date: 2013-10-02 05:22 pm (UTC)I appreciate your views on the Frontier Magic series. I hear a lot that *just* discusses the problems with Wrede's decision to make the US uninhabited by humans before Europeans came over, and it's nice to hear a discussion that includes that, but also looks beyond it--including to the fact that the Lewis and Clark expedition didn't make it back since there was no Sacagawea.
I hope you enjoy your Moar Pratchett!
no subject
Date: 2013-10-02 06:05 pm (UTC)She doesn't explicitly outright say that the reason they didn't come back was no Sacagawea, but this is what partner and I have decided and it does fit with canon. So.
Moar Pratchett yes!
no subject
Date: 2013-10-03 12:26 am (UTC)I also adore the Tiffany Aching books. The Wee Free Men always remind me of my dad. :) And "I Shall Wear Midnight" has become one of my favorite books.
Someone lent me a copy of Gaiman's "Ocean at the End of the Lane" but I've only just started it. Gaiman's work can be a bit dark, so it might not be what you're looking for at the moment. You might check out some of Charles de Lint's young adult fiction ("Little Grrl Lost" is the one I read most recently, but he has some other good ones too). He writes a lot of modern fantasy stuff, but I love his style.
I also highly recommend anything by Tamora Pierce. She writes wonderful strong women characters. I haven't read her Circle of Magic series yet, but I love all of the Tortall books that I've read.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-03 02:21 am (UTC)