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Weekly Wednesday Reading meme
Apr. 17th, 2013 06:34 pmWhat are you currently reading
The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan. A fictional memoir of a schizophrenic queer woman named Imp. Not really my usual cup of tea, but I'm enjoying it, especially the unreliable narrator aspect, and how she uses allusions to fairy tales to express herself. It's the kind of book where, once I finish it, I imagine I'll sit down intending to say a lot and then not come up with anything more than "it was good."
What did you recently finish reading?
Didn't finish:
I read about 1/4 of the first volume of The Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, the graphic novel series that the movie Les Aventures d'Adele Blanc-Sec is based on. It was ok, I suppose, but I didn't care for the art, and Adele herself was in about 3 pages of what I read. I may have liked it more if I'd stuck with it throughout, but I couldn't work up the interest. Pity, because I really liked the movie.
I also bounced off of the anthology Queen Victoria's Book of Spells. I'll likely revisit it, but it very much started off on the wrong foot for me.
( spoiler for the first story and brief rant about the introduction )
Finished:
Peony Pavilion by Xia Da, a single-volume, full color manhua adapting various mythological Chinese poems and short stories. Some are illustrated prose and some are full adaptations. The artwork is stunning and I enjoyed reading it a lot, but i have to admit that the individual stories themselves didn't necessarily stick with me.
Melody Drifting in the Rain by Cang Yue and Lu Jing, another single volume manhua, this time about a prince who enters into a political marriage to gain her familiy's support for his brother during a civil war. Surprisingly enough, this isn't about a romance between the two, but instead focuses on the war and the machinations of their families. Entertaining, but it felt like it should have been longer. Though, like with Fantastic Tales, I suspect a lot of that feeling comes from the fact that I'm used to seeing the stories spread out over 30-40 42 minute TV episodes. (Though I don't get that same feeling from movies as often. Ah well.)
Last in the graphic novels is volumes 13-16 of Karuho Shiina's Kimi ni Todoke, a series that I've been enjoying a lot the last few months, despite having little to say about it. I'm glad that the conflict isn't relying as heavily on misunderstandings that are fairly easy to clear up, though I still sometimes want to reach in and shake people and tell them to just sit down at talk already. I'm also rather frustrated that that my favorite character is apparently being paired off with the only character in the series who I actually dislike.
( brief spoilers )
Wide Open by Deborah Crombie, a gothic novel about Hallie, a soldier serving in Afhanistan who is on a 10 day compassionate leave after her sister's (Dell) death. Arriving home in South Dakota, she learns that while her sister's death was officially ruled an accident, most people in town believe it was a suicide. Hallie, however, believes that her sister was murdered, and is resolved to find the truth in the limited time she has. Thanks to being technically dead at one point in Afghanistan, Hallie also sees ghosts, and her ghosts lead her to believe that Dell's death is connected to the disappearances of several other women over the last few years, and that the disappearances are supernatural in origin. Hallie appears to have PTSD, but it isn't directly dealt with within the narrative. With the exception of one scene, I enjoyed the book a lot.
( potentially triggering spoiler )
There's a sequel, apparently, though my library doesn't seem to have it yet, sadly.
What do you think you'll read next?
I have no idea. Really, I consider this question to be very cruel. HOW CAN I KNOW WHAT READING MOOD I'LL BE IN IN FIVE DAYS IF I'M NOT JUST CONTINUING WITH WHAT I WAS READING?
Uhm...I don't feel up to anything heavy or that might spring things on me, so probably a romance novel or two, and maybe one of the Kelley Armstrong books I still have from the library.
The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan. A fictional memoir of a schizophrenic queer woman named Imp. Not really my usual cup of tea, but I'm enjoying it, especially the unreliable narrator aspect, and how she uses allusions to fairy tales to express herself. It's the kind of book where, once I finish it, I imagine I'll sit down intending to say a lot and then not come up with anything more than "it was good."
What did you recently finish reading?
Didn't finish:
I read about 1/4 of the first volume of The Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, the graphic novel series that the movie Les Aventures d'Adele Blanc-Sec is based on. It was ok, I suppose, but I didn't care for the art, and Adele herself was in about 3 pages of what I read. I may have liked it more if I'd stuck with it throughout, but I couldn't work up the interest. Pity, because I really liked the movie.
I also bounced off of the anthology Queen Victoria's Book of Spells. I'll likely revisit it, but it very much started off on the wrong foot for me.
( spoiler for the first story and brief rant about the introduction )
Finished:
Peony Pavilion by Xia Da, a single-volume, full color manhua adapting various mythological Chinese poems and short stories. Some are illustrated prose and some are full adaptations. The artwork is stunning and I enjoyed reading it a lot, but i have to admit that the individual stories themselves didn't necessarily stick with me.
Melody Drifting in the Rain by Cang Yue and Lu Jing, another single volume manhua, this time about a prince who enters into a political marriage to gain her familiy's support for his brother during a civil war. Surprisingly enough, this isn't about a romance between the two, but instead focuses on the war and the machinations of their families. Entertaining, but it felt like it should have been longer. Though, like with Fantastic Tales, I suspect a lot of that feeling comes from the fact that I'm used to seeing the stories spread out over 30-40 42 minute TV episodes. (Though I don't get that same feeling from movies as often. Ah well.)
Last in the graphic novels is volumes 13-16 of Karuho Shiina's Kimi ni Todoke, a series that I've been enjoying a lot the last few months, despite having little to say about it. I'm glad that the conflict isn't relying as heavily on misunderstandings that are fairly easy to clear up, though I still sometimes want to reach in and shake people and tell them to just sit down at talk already. I'm also rather frustrated that that my favorite character is apparently being paired off with the only character in the series who I actually dislike.
( brief spoilers )
Wide Open by Deborah Crombie, a gothic novel about Hallie, a soldier serving in Afhanistan who is on a 10 day compassionate leave after her sister's (Dell) death. Arriving home in South Dakota, she learns that while her sister's death was officially ruled an accident, most people in town believe it was a suicide. Hallie, however, believes that her sister was murdered, and is resolved to find the truth in the limited time she has. Thanks to being technically dead at one point in Afghanistan, Hallie also sees ghosts, and her ghosts lead her to believe that Dell's death is connected to the disappearances of several other women over the last few years, and that the disappearances are supernatural in origin. Hallie appears to have PTSD, but it isn't directly dealt with within the narrative. With the exception of one scene, I enjoyed the book a lot.
( potentially triggering spoiler )
There's a sequel, apparently, though my library doesn't seem to have it yet, sadly.
What do you think you'll read next?
I have no idea. Really, I consider this question to be very cruel. HOW CAN I KNOW WHAT READING MOOD I'LL BE IN IN FIVE DAYS IF I'M NOT JUST CONTINUING WITH WHAT I WAS READING?
Uhm...I don't feel up to anything heavy or that might spring things on me, so probably a romance novel or two, and maybe one of the Kelley Armstrong books I still have from the library.
