What are you reading?

[petra]

For fun, for news, for whatever floats your boat; what sources of words are you enjoying at the moment?

Comments

[firewhispers]

The first Gossip Girl book, as well as John Green's Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

[petra]

John Green is on my "to read someday" pile. Which would you suggest I start with?

[firewhispers]

Looking For Alaska. Also, his book The Fault In Our Stars was very popular and even adapted into a film. I haven't read it yet, but I would recommend that one too. I've heard good reviews about it.

[petra]

Looking for Alaska, okay, I'll put in a ebook request at my library. Thank you!

[althea_valara]

Today I *will* start reading The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan. I've had the ebook checked out for about a week and haven't started it yet. I've read two other books in the series and really enjoyed them, so I was looking forward to this one, too. Just, haven't found the time to sit down and read, which sounds weird right now what with everything going on, but it's true.

Otherwise, my source of story comes from my video games I play. I'm re-visiting the season 1 story in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and it's been tons of fun.

[petra]

The Countess Conspiracy sounds like a lot of fun.

I keep meaning to watch television and then finding that the time has slid away from me before I could focus on it, so I understand not having time to read!

[tamsin]

I have a Courtney Milan book on my to-be-read pile. I've heard good things about her, so I hope it will be enjoyable.

[althea_valara]

I've read two books in The Brothers Sinister series: The Duchess War and The Heiress Effect. I loved them because all the characters are smart and have agency. I did have some quibbles with The Duchess War; there was a moment or two where it felt the heroine knew information the reader didn't, and that confused me. It's still a great book, though!

The Heiress Effect was pure love. The thing I really appreciated about it is that the secondary characters all had stories of their own, which really helped to flesh out the story and add to the setting. And the heroine is a complete delight in this book.

[tamsin]

That sounds very promising, thank you!

[petra]

Blood Magic by Gateway_Girl is my current longform read, plus a zillion articles on COVID-19.

[tamsin]

I'm reading a biography about Edna St. Vincent Millay which is very interesting so far. And when I need something lighter I'm reading Agatha Christie's Parker Pyne Investigates. It's such a treat to read some stories from her I don't know yet.

[petra]

Oo, that sounds like a great spread of interesting things!

[hannah]

Far and Away by Andrew Solomon. It's a collection of his pieces of travel writings. Also a collection of poems by Leonard Cohen, which includes a few songs like "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "Democracy."

[petra]

That sounds fascinating. How do the non-song poems by Cohen strike you?

[lethe1]

I have an old collection of his poems and I cherish it. I used to know several of the poems by heart. One of my favourites:

MARITA
PLEASE FIND ME
I AM ALMOST 30

[petra]

Oh, the ache of "I AM ALMOST 30".

[via_ostiense]

The Monstrous Regiment series by Amarguerite - Temeraire/Austen AU full of adventure! Dragons! Lizzy Bennet going off and having adventures!

A Monstrous Regiment (94904 words) by AMarguerite
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: Temeraire - Naomi Novik, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, AUSTEN Jane - Works, Persuasion - Jane Austen, Mansfield Park - Jane Austen, Emma - Jane Austen
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Elizabeth Bennet, Colonel Fitzwilliam (Pride and Prejudice), Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington, Jane Roland, Jane Fairfax, Frederick Wentworth, Fitzwilliam Darcy, George Wickham, Georgiana Darcy, Charlotte Lucas, William Price, Excidium, Gherni, Arkady (Temeraire), Perscitia, Captain Harville (Persuasion)
Additional Tags: badass Elizabeth Bennet, Napoleonic Wars, Dragon Riders, Regency, Battle, War, Feminist Themes, Colonel Fitzwilliam has some period-appropriate Opinions that get overturned, so be forewarned, he's a good dude though, he learns, Age of Sail, alternate title: Charlotte's Great Escape
Series: Part 1 of A Monstrous Regiment
Summary:

General Wellington selects Colonel Fitzwilliam for a very singular honor during the Spanish Campaign: working with dragons-- and, in particular, with Captain Elizabeth Bennet, of His Majesty's Dragon, the Longwing Wollstonecraft.

Temeraire/ Pride and Prejudice crossover entirely to have Elizabeth Bennet as a dragon captain during the Peninsular War, with Charlotte Lucas as her uber-capable first lieutenant.

[petra]

Ooh, I love that one!

[starshipfox]

Wow, that sounds amazing! Thanks for reccing this.

[sulien]

Just finished reading the third story in a fanfic series called "Lives That Lead To The Stars" by Hermionetobe over on Twisting the Hellmouth. It's an AU crossover of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stargate SG-1 and nice, light reading if you're into either series. I'm debating whether to read an old favorite next or see what I can find in the way of something nice and long that I haven't read yet.

If anyone wants fic recs, I've got a ton of good things recced at both Twisting the Hellmouth and AO3.

If you're a Tolkien/Lord of the Rings fan and want to watch a truly amazing, feature length fan film, head over to Youtube and watch Kate Madison's "Born of Hope".

[petra]

Thank you for bringing a pile of recs! I look forward to digging into them.

[starshipfox]

I'm reading "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides, which I picked up in a book swap right before the quarantine. It's about an intersex man and the history of his Greek family. So far it's... well written and fun to read, but a really cis, hetero take on gender. It's entertaining but I keep wanting to yell at it.

[petra]

Oof, that sounds potentially very frustrating. I hope you keep enjoying some of it!

[lethe1]

I recently finished Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, which I enjoyed a lot.

At the moment I'm reading The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy. The library only had the Dutch translation and I find it a bit clunky in places. It is a very strange, timey-wimey story.

[jesse_the_k]

I loved ZOO CITY. From what I remember (it's been a few years) it has enough of the post-apocalyptic vibe to feel relevant but not so much as to be oppressive.

[lethe1]

Agreed!

[jesse_the_k]

For audio reading, I'm enjoying The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C Mann, well read by the author. He explores the science and scientists who've discovered how the Earth works for us as humans -- agronomists, meterologists, and more. It explains why some people think the sky isn't falling, which is a new viewpoint to me. I adored his earlier works 1491 and 1493, about North America before European settlement and the "Columbian Exchange," respectively.

Video/Audio presentation: http://longnow.org/seminars/02018/jan/22/wizard-and-prophet/
Interview: https://psmag.com/environment/saving-the-world-with-wizards-and-prophets
Excerpt essay: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/book-incited-worldwide-fear-overpopulation-180967499/

Eyeball (re)reading is The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin. It's a treat to come back to this as an adult. Charlie Jane Anders wrote a great afterword that highlights how Le Guin intentionally writes her viewpoint character as a misogynist who's bewildered by the genderless folks he's attempting to interact with.

I'm finding soothing and sensible stuff online while avoiding social media, like Dahlia Lithwick's most excellent essay about how to think in the middle of this shit:

https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/03/how-to-spend-time-quarantine.html

[petra]

Thank you for the Dahlia Lithwick article. I feel differently grounded after reading it.