While She Knits - Whatcha Been Reading?
Mar. 31st, 2017 03:36 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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queensthiefI've been in a bit of a reading slump lately. How about you?
Have you read something recently that you'd like to recommend to others? Tell us about it.
Have you read something recently that you'd like to recommend to others? Tell us about it.
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Date: 3/31/17 08:06 pm (UTC)As I posted a bit ago, I found out that Elizabeth Moon is releasing a new book in the Vatta series called Cold Welcome in 11 days, so I've been rereading the first five books. Halfway through the second, Marque and Reprisal, after finishing the first, Trading in Danger. Highly recommended.
Read a very funny science fiction novel called Aye, Robot, by Robert Kroese, the sequel to another funny novel called Starship Grifters. Almost Pratchett-esque, though science fiction rather than fantasy.
I'm also half-dreading the new Netflix series of Anne of Green Gables (the wikipedia summaries for the episodes make it clear that it's trying way to hard to be dark and gritty), so I've been listening to the radio drama of the first book.
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Date: 3/31/17 09:14 pm (UTC)"I am in the depths of despair."
Date: 3/31/17 09:17 pm (UTC)(My loyalty lies with Megan Follows, anyway.)
Re: "I am in the depths of despair."
Date: 4/1/17 03:53 am (UTC)The "dark and gritty" seems to be what happens when an EMMY WINNING WRITER wants to do a kids book.
Re: "I am in the depths of despair."
Date: 4/1/17 05:53 pm (UTC)Re: "I am in the depths of despair."
Date: 4/1/17 06:07 pm (UTC)I haven't seen the new tv movies with Martin Sheen as Matthew, so I've really only seen the Megan Follows version, and listened to the radio drama. I'm in the middle of the 1975 Anne of Avonlea BBC adaptation, which I am quite enjoying because it's much more faithful to the humor of the book than the 1980s Anne of Avonlea.
tl,dr: Megan Follows is my favorite Anne, but the writing for the series was always a bit flawed, and got significantly worse every series. :)
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Date: 3/31/17 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3/31/17 09:40 pm (UTC)Plus, she's a fan of MWT, and I was pleased to see that nice little promo blurb she did for the new cover of King of Attolia!
I'm still halfway through Ron Chernow's Hamilton biography. In my defense, it is a Very Large book with Very Small print. But I love biographies, and this one inspired the musical that's getting so much buzz lately, so I'm invested in finishing it. (Here's hoping I can splurge on a ticket while the show's playing in Chicago...)
Aside from other less stimulating texts I'm reading for various reasons, I'm enjoying my re-read of KoA, and editing my own book (slowly but surely).
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Date: 4/2/17 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/4/17 09:03 pm (UTC)My friend and I co-wrote a book over the course of two years, and have spent the last year or so getting feedback and giving it a good polish. We were inspired by the co-authorship of books such as Sorcery and Cecelia. It's a fantasy set in the pseudo-1930s-40s (WWII era) and borrows loosely from the Atlantis legend and Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid. We're just starting the hunt for an agent!
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Date: 4/6/17 05:21 pm (UTC)Someday wouldn't it be nice for both of us to announce to Sounis that we have books coming out?!
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Date: 4/7/17 12:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/8/17 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/7/17 10:58 pm (UTC)Oh, my. I have such respect for MWT's writing, and the intelligence of her readers here on Sounis. I always feel a bit silly talking about my own book, and would probably die of a lethal combination of glee and embarrassment.
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Date: 4/7/17 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/7/17 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3/31/17 11:32 pm (UTC)I would highly recommend THE DISTRACTION ADDICTION to those who enjoy social media but sometimes feel overwhelmed and even overworked trying to keep up with it all, and/or people who fret about not being able to get any Real Work done because they keep getting sidetracked by e-mail, text alerts, cat videos, etc. Pang has some very practical and balanced suggestions about reframing our perception of the tools we use to communicate, and putting healthy limits on them so that they work for us instead of causing us stress.
REST is a great companion to the earlier book, but also stands on its own as an argument in favor of taking deliberate, active breaks from work on a regular basis and how it actually increases your creativity, happiness and productivity. I was amazed and encouraged to see how many great writers, scientists, mathematicians, politicians and other busy people got their best work done in a matter of 3-4 hours a day with ample time for walking, reading, naps and exercise, rather than pushing themselves to work for long stretches without a break (which actually yields worse results in the end, both in terms of health and the quality of the work being done). There's a lot of scientific data in this book, but it's presented in a very approachable way with a minimum of jargon. As I said on Twitter, I'd love to give a copy of this book to all the stressed-out, overworked writers I know who can't understand why the chapter they stayed up all night to work on has to be thrown out the next day...
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Date: 4/1/17 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/1/17 03:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/1/17 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/1/17 06:24 pm (UTC)(Well, and Robin Hood, obviously.)
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Date: 4/1/17 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/1/17 03:54 pm (UTC)There are 450 episodes, and the artist/writer duo have been releasing it once a week (for free!) for 10 years.
Okay, now back to writing for me.
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Date: 4/1/17 07:24 pm (UTC)I am currently reading Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer, which I actually hadn't planned to read at all, as I had issues with the third book in her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy (not that there was anything wrong with the writing per se, but I disliked some elements of the plot). I am liking it a great deal so far. The world-building is excellent and Taylor's writing style has a lush, fairy tale quality to it. Plus, you can't go wrong with a delightful main character like Lazlo, a librarian who dreams of adventures.I find myself having a lot in common with him.
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Date: 4/1/17 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/2/17 03:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/2/17 05:24 am (UTC)I haven't read any of her other work - are you liking it? And are there any other comics/webcomics that you enjoy? Evan Dahm's Rice Boy and Jeff Smith's Bone are some of my favourites.
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Date: 4/3/17 03:03 am (UTC)Digger is the only webcomic series I've really gotten into.
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Date: 4/4/17 09:05 pm (UTC)~mwt
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Date: 4/7/17 07:40 pm (UTC)http://tkingfisher.com/?page_id=86
Also, _Castle Hangnail_ for the win!
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Date: 4/5/17 01:22 am (UTC)I did read her Beauty and the Beast retelling which was interesting, but Robin McKinley's Beauty will always be the one for me.
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Date: 4/7/17 07:40 pm (UTC)http://tkingfisher.com/?page_id=86
Not much
Date: 4/3/17 03:15 am (UTC)I've been listening to a LOT of podcasts in my spare time lately, which has cut into my reading time. I've added 4 German Language or German Learning podcasts, and I've been listening intensively to the archives. I'm planning to cancel my Dish Network tomorrow, and have been listening to select Cord Killers eps as research. I always enjoy Penn's Sunday School, Ice Cream Social (NSFW!), Hidden Almanac, and Talkin' Birds.
Late to the party...
Date: 4/5/17 01:27 am (UTC)That being said, I have been working my way through the All the Wonders podcast while working and am really loving it. It helps to have a host that is so enthusiastic about kidlit.
I recently finished the Newbery winner, The Girl Who Drank the Moon. I liked it, but didn't love it. As an artist, though, it was wonderful--there were lots of great images in it, and I couldn't resist the urge to sketch some.
I've been meaning to put together a black-and-white/middle-grade section for my portfolio lately, and I've been trying to find recent-ish (last decade? last 5 years is better) MG novels I could illustrate for that purpose, SO, if anyone happens to read this and has any recommendations, I'm all ears.
Re: Late to the party...
Date: 4/5/17 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/5/17 02:12 am (UTC)Anyway, at the turn of the new year, I did a reread of Queen of Attolia. It's been some years since my last reread, and I forgot much of what happened. It's awesome how I come to have almost the same reaction with regards to Attolia though -- how I go from hating her to rooting for her. I thought knowing what happened, I would have gotten a different reaction.
I also read both books in RJ Anderson's Uncommon Magic duology, which are really really good! Just last week, the first book was in the Top Picks section in Indigo and I ended up buying it, even though I was supposed to look at the new editions of QT.... (Speaking of Indigo, they used to shelve QT in the middle grade section, but I now find them in teens. It reminded me of when the Eagle of the Ninth movie came out, and the books with the old covers were in the children's section, and the one with Tatum's face on it was in the teens. Hehe, that's marketing for you.)
I also read a book called "The Reader" by Traci Chee. I have very mixed feelings about it. I think I wanted to like it so much it got frustrating when it wasn't catering to my tastes, hahaha.
I read a non-fiction book called "The Geek Heresy" by Kentaro Toyama, and as a computer science student, I think this is the only thing I've read recently that really gets past the hype of recent technological advancements and observe how they're actually affecting society. It's not pessimistic, but I think when you're surrounded by tech fanatics all the time, getting a non upper-middle-class-North-American perspective on tech is quite sobering. I highly recommend it!
I also finally got around to reading the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, called "Castle in the Air." Gotta admit, I wasn't as impressed, though I did like Abdullah.
I'm now making my way through KoA. It's my most reread book out of the 4, but the last time I read it was 2014, so it's good to refresh my memories of it.
I'm also reading "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" and Brandon Sanderson's novella, "The Emperor's Soul."
And yeah... that's about it. Like a few of the others above, I'm also working on my own writing, which I really need to get to now that I impulsively signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo.