Reading

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The Fourth of the Recced Book Reviews: Get a Life, Chloe Brown

On May 8th, I offered to read the first five books people recced - assuming they were available (preferably from the library) - and I'd give a short review [https://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/701769.html].

This is the fourth recced book review

Get a Life, Chloe Brown (2019) by Talia Hibbert (recced by lareinenoire on DW)

Let me start by saying that I have read many a romance novel in my day - thousands if I include fanfic, which I do - and lord knows I don't privilege fancy-pants literature over genre fiction.

However, for the first 50 or 60 pages, this romance novel wasn't doing much for me. The 2 main characters (a man & a woman) had started to feel as if they'd been created based on checklists of race, disability, class, etc., and their secretly-attracted-antagonists'-banter felt a little boilerplate.

Never say die, though. I soldiered on, and once Chloe & Red started actually interacting, both characters grew on me, and the book became much more engaging...and often charming.

For those of you who like super-tropey fiction (and fancy some decent sex scenes), you should give this a try.

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The Third of the Recced Book Reviews: A Memory Called Empire

On May 8th, I offered to read the first five books people recced - assuming they were available (preferably from the library) - and I'd give a short review [https://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/701769.html].

This is the third recced book review

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (recced by coffeejunkii on bluesky)

After a bit of a hiatus, I'm back to the Recced Book Reviews. A Memory Called Empire has actually been on my TBR list for a long time, and I'm glad I had this push to read it.

Martine's SF novel is a very good blend of political intrigue and relationship building, focused on Mahit Dzmare, a "stationer" (someone raised on a space station) who's been sent a bit precipitously to serve as the new ambassador to Teixcalaan, the main city/planet of a huge Empire.

Mahit arrives on Teixcalaan already knowing a great deal about the Empire's literature, history, politics, and language, but as most of us understand, studying a culture and truly knowing a culture are two very different things.

Anyway! Good world building and good character creation, but despite that, it took me a weirdly long time to get properly started considering I ended up liking the book so much.

I look forward to reading the next in the series (A Desolation Called Peace, 2021).

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The Second of the Recced Book Reviews

ride4ever on Dreamwidth)

Note 1: I listened to the audiobook for this one because the narrator is Patrick Warburton, and his voice is great.

Note 2: I've never read ANY of the Series of Unfortunate Events books, so this is my first Lemony Snicket book, although this is a stand alone mystery (it's also technically "all-ages," but given the focus on poisoning and the philosophical tangents, maybe not ALL ages?)

The actual review? Very clever. Very meta. Quite funny. Incidentally, the purported "mystery" is very much not the point, which was just fine with me. :D

(quite short, also, if that's something you're looking for at some point)

Note 3: the reviewing plan has gone far beyond 5 books. :)

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The first of the Recced Book Reviews

The other day, I offered to read the first five books people recced - assuming they were available (preferably from the library) - and I'd give a short review [https://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/701769.html].

This is the first review - The Years by Annie Ernaux (recced by hopeinthenight on bluesky)

The Years is one of the most interesting & poetic memoirs I've read. Told in references to photos, the march of progress, family gatherings & catch phrases, this isn't just a memoir about one person, but also a memoir of a place (France) and a time (post-1940). The way The Woman sees her changing world resonated with me in a way it might not have done if I hadn't already shared so many of those experiences. I might have loved this book in my 20s, but it would have been a different sort of love

Note 1: Having spent little time in France, much of this book felt slightly alien to me, even some of the most quotidian elements (this was a feature, not a bug)

Note 2: I haven't been as conscious of reading all the words in a book for fear of missing something in a long time.

Note 3: When I finish the first 5 reviews, I'll carry on, but probably not until June.