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missroseroseTaking a moment in between the mad dash of airport-fetching, grocery shopping, pie making, and traffic-navigating and banging this out before it's time for work-going. So glad I'm not the one doing all the cooking tomorrow, heh.
What I just finished reading
My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante. This was a well-written and thoroughly engaging portrait of two girls growing up in a poor neighborhood in midcentury Naples, and...that's really as much as I have to say about it. My earlier complaints still stand; there's a distinct sense of hopelessness that overshadows the whole thing and makes it less interesting than I think it wants to be. I'm not saying it's not accurate - there are many environmental, social, biological, and psychological reasons why it's difficult to escape poverty. But the end-point especially - which, without going into detail, demonstrates pretty vividly to Lila that the bargain she's made to elevate herself above particular dangers won't, in fact, protect her from those dangers at all - kinda made me shrug and go "Well, that sucks." Again, presumably there's more to these girls' stories, but with the exception of a few scenes - the unusually tender and sexually loaded scene where Elena bathes Lila prior to her wedding, and which gives the book's title its ironic edge, is a standout - it mostly reads as a story of not-particularly-likable people being moderately awful to each other. Which, again, may well be true to the setting, but it feels hopeless enough that I'm not particularly interested in reading the next book.
What I'm currently reading
Zer0es, by Chuck Wendig. Our pod of wannabe hackers have been given several assignments now and are starting to connect the dots, and although the greater pattern still lies out of reach, the overall tone is ominous - all the more so for several seemingly-unrelated but disquieting events that the narrative serves to us. As an aside, I'm completely entertained at how immediately Hollis Copper, the federal agent assigned to babysit our group, codes in my head as "Idris Elba as Stacker Pentecost in Pacific Rim". I don't even remember if Copper is described as African-American, but something about his ironclad discipline, world-weary attitude and somewhat-compromised principles just translate 100% to that picture in my head.
Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman. Welp, it wouldn't be proper Norse legends without the wise and charismatic poet being drained of their blood by dark elves intent on creating the Mead of Poets, I suppose. (In fairness, the reader is not unwarned: "It is a long story, and it does no credit to anyone: there is murder in it, and trickery, lies and foolishness, seduction and pursuit. Listen." I genuinely don't know how much of that to credit to the Prose Edda and how much to Gaiman, but it's possibly the most poetic trigger warning I've come across.) I'm also enjoying the relationship Loki holds to the rest of the gods, as an outsider and malicious trickster; they hate him but also need him to get them out of various scrapes (often that he got them into in the first place). It's nicely representative of that aspect of human nature..."This is a terrible idea! But what if it works?" "...nope, that was a terrible idea! But we can fix it and still come out ahead if we..."
Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer. This is an incredibly intricate and elaborate future world Palmer's created, with significant differences in gender and religion and status markers and social unit and language and criminal justice and technology...and while there's certainly some kind of conspiracy plot afoot, mostly we're spending an awful lot of time in dialogue with the various characters, often having philosophical debates on various points. There's a bit about a kid with possible supernatural powers, and a possible global conspiracy happening, and...I don't know if it's all going to come together and feel more coherent by the end or not, but for now I'm enjoying the ride, almost certainly in part due to it being an audiobook.
What I plan to read next
Still planning on Ancillary Sword! I have to finish Norse Mythology first, though, since it's a paper book, and I just haven't had a lot of time to sit and read paper books lately.
What I just finished reading
My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante. This was a well-written and thoroughly engaging portrait of two girls growing up in a poor neighborhood in midcentury Naples, and...that's really as much as I have to say about it. My earlier complaints still stand; there's a distinct sense of hopelessness that overshadows the whole thing and makes it less interesting than I think it wants to be. I'm not saying it's not accurate - there are many environmental, social, biological, and psychological reasons why it's difficult to escape poverty. But the end-point especially - which, without going into detail, demonstrates pretty vividly to Lila that the bargain she's made to elevate herself above particular dangers won't, in fact, protect her from those dangers at all - kinda made me shrug and go "Well, that sucks." Again, presumably there's more to these girls' stories, but with the exception of a few scenes - the unusually tender and sexually loaded scene where Elena bathes Lila prior to her wedding, and which gives the book's title its ironic edge, is a standout - it mostly reads as a story of not-particularly-likable people being moderately awful to each other. Which, again, may well be true to the setting, but it feels hopeless enough that I'm not particularly interested in reading the next book.
What I'm currently reading
Zer0es, by Chuck Wendig. Our pod of wannabe hackers have been given several assignments now and are starting to connect the dots, and although the greater pattern still lies out of reach, the overall tone is ominous - all the more so for several seemingly-unrelated but disquieting events that the narrative serves to us. As an aside, I'm completely entertained at how immediately Hollis Copper, the federal agent assigned to babysit our group, codes in my head as "Idris Elba as Stacker Pentecost in Pacific Rim". I don't even remember if Copper is described as African-American, but something about his ironclad discipline, world-weary attitude and somewhat-compromised principles just translate 100% to that picture in my head.
Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman. Welp, it wouldn't be proper Norse legends without the wise and charismatic poet being drained of their blood by dark elves intent on creating the Mead of Poets, I suppose. (In fairness, the reader is not unwarned: "It is a long story, and it does no credit to anyone: there is murder in it, and trickery, lies and foolishness, seduction and pursuit. Listen." I genuinely don't know how much of that to credit to the Prose Edda and how much to Gaiman, but it's possibly the most poetic trigger warning I've come across.) I'm also enjoying the relationship Loki holds to the rest of the gods, as an outsider and malicious trickster; they hate him but also need him to get them out of various scrapes (often that he got them into in the first place). It's nicely representative of that aspect of human nature..."This is a terrible idea! But what if it works?" "...nope, that was a terrible idea! But we can fix it and still come out ahead if we..."
Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer. This is an incredibly intricate and elaborate future world Palmer's created, with significant differences in gender and religion and status markers and social unit and language and criminal justice and technology...and while there's certainly some kind of conspiracy plot afoot, mostly we're spending an awful lot of time in dialogue with the various characters, often having philosophical debates on various points. There's a bit about a kid with possible supernatural powers, and a possible global conspiracy happening, and...I don't know if it's all going to come together and feel more coherent by the end or not, but for now I'm enjoying the ride, almost certainly in part due to it being an audiobook.
What I plan to read next
Still planning on Ancillary Sword! I have to finish Norse Mythology first, though, since it's a paper book, and I just haven't had a lot of time to sit and read paper books lately.
