January reading

[white_hart]

(Because I have actually been reading enough lately to make it worth tracking it.)

The Master Courier's Gift, AJ Hall - the latest in her Gondal series of fics which mix the Brontes' juvenilia with Sherlock to produce something rich and strange and utterly compelling. This one is novelette length so was a quick read.

The Lady Astronaut of Mars, Mary Robinette Kowal - another novelette, another quick read. I enjoyed it but don't seem to have a lot to say about it.

Mystery in White, J Jefferson Farjeon - this was a Christmas present, one of the British Library's reprints of 30s detective novels. I liked this a lot - entertaining, plotty and well-written, with interesting characters. Definitely recommended if you like your crime cosy.

The Sleeper and the Spindle, Neil Gaiman - a beautiful picture-book fairytale retelling. I loved the story, but found the illustrations Arthur Rackham-ish enough that I kept wishing they really were by Arthur Rackham.

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal, Jeanette Winterson - Winterson's memoir, covering much the same ground as the fictional Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. An interesting read, rather sad, beautifully written.

Heart of Iron, Ekaterina Sedia - steampunk set in 1870s Russia. Like far too much alternate history I felt it suffered a lot from not really knowing enough about the actual history of the period (not necessarily events, but culture) and the frequent references to a character as "Dame Nightingale" rather than the correct "Dame Florence" set my teeth on edge.

Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen - because I had a stinking cold and wanted a comforting re-read that I knew would satisfy. I think I'd only read this one once before and had forgotten a lot about it, or possibly simply hadn't got a lot of the more subtle character stuff because I was too young and emotionally immature. This time, I particularly noticed Austen's rejection of the romantic ideal of love meaning meeting that one special person in all the world you're meant to be with; Catherine falls for the first young man she speaks to in Bath, and Henry falls for her largely because she likes him. They obviously like each other, and seem likely to be happy together, but this is much more a productive of circumstance than destiny. I have to say that I much prefer this to the "one special person" idea.

And I'm currently halfway through Keith Roberts' Pavane, which I've wanted to read for about 30 years, ever since it was an answer to one of the questions in the Sci-Fi quiz computer game we had for our BBC Model B computer and I thought it sounded interesting. Which it is, so far, and also slow-paced and rather beautiful.

Comments

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I likewise received Mystery in White for Christmas, and enjoyed it greatly. I rather liked that the chorus girl wasn't vulgar for once. I actually found it a bit creepier than convenient for reading in bed.

[white_hart]

It was quite creepy in parts - I read it in a day while at my parents' so mostly avoided the reading-creepy-bits-in-bed problem. And I agree about the chorus girl - I felt that one of the real strengths of the book was a fairly large cast of characters, all of whom seemed like real people and not two-dimensional stock characters (well, with the possible exception of the one who spend pretty much the whole book in bed with flu!).

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I thought I had already commented on this, but clearly not. I would like to try Mystery in White, and I will keep an eye out for it.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

I do like J. Austen vs. Romance Tropes. Have you ever read 'Love and Freindship' (sic)? It's noticeably written by a rather young writer, but some of the takedowns of the Grand Emotive Romance Story are very funny. (Just to give you an idea: it contains the line "We fainted alternately on a sofa". Oh, the perils of having two romance heroines and only one item of furniture!)