soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2012-06-11 05:07 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2012-06-11 05:07 pm
Entry tags:
- anent: book thoughts 1,
- anent: queer,
- author: jo walton,
- author: patricia c wrede,
- author: patrick o'brian,
- author: s bear bergman,
- book theme: alternate earth,
- book theme: fantasy,
- book theme: history,
- book theme: kidlit,
- book theme: nonfiction,
- book theme: queer,
- book theme: reread,
- book theme: sailing,
- fandom: aubrey-maturin series,
- pub date: 1973,
- pub date: 1997,
- pub date: 2003,
- pub date: 2004,
- pub date: 2009,
- pub date: 2010,
- rating: **,
- rating: ***,
- rating: ****,
- rating: *****
books!
Yeah, so there's a lot of books I've read in the last little while when I haven't been posting regularly, so there's a bunch to report back on! Some I have more, uh, extensive thoughts than others. I'll start with a compilation post for a number of the books for which I had less to say. But after posting this I am taking my beloved computer off to the repair shop to get a serious overheating problem looked at, so my presence may be erratic until the repairs are complete! (depends on how often Mara needs her computer, how often I go to the library, and how often I decide that the frustrations of internet via iPod are worth facing :P)
The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, by S Bear Bergman
Really interesting! I enjoyed it a lot, and Bear is clearly a very thoughtful person and a good writer. My one problem, though, was that ze did a lot of...conflating of gender PRESENTATION with gender IDENTITY. Ze acknowledged this in one of the essays, even! But continued doing it nonetheless. I do understand that for some people presentation and identity are linked like that. But it's not a universal thing. I identify quite happily as female, but my gender presentation involves things that are both traditionally female AND traditionally male and I feel weird if I don't have that mix.* That doesn't mean, though, that I identify as something other than female, so Bear's celebration of gender diversity felt very much like it wasn't supposed to be for me, even though I think it WAS intended to be read and appreciated by cis people as well as trans.
*this is why I have the haircut I do, which is a pretty boyish haircut. It means that I can wear the skirts and earrings and so forth that I love without having to actively figure out something else to add to the outfit to make it not 100% feminine, because I always have my unfeminine hair.
Tooth and Claw, by Jo Walton
This is a book I first read a VERY long time ago, and decided to reread because I could no longer remember a thing about it. It's really excellent, and I'm glad it stood up as well upon reread as it did in my memory! Also now I want to read some actual Anthony Trollope.
Magician's Ward, by Patricia C. Wrede
Another reread of a previously-read-long-ago book. This is actually the second in a duology but the library appears to have lost the first book in the intervening years since I first read them, so I just went meh and read this one alone. It's a lot of fun, and I definitely really enjoy it, although I am also amused by how Mairelon's mother seems quite of a type with Thomas' mother (from Sorcery & Cecilia, Or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer). Ah well, it's a type that I love so that's okay! :P
H.M.S. Surprise, by Patrick O'Brian
UGH SUCH GOOD TIMES. I love these books and I love these characters! I've been stalled about halfway through this book for, um, two years, I think, although most of that has been me going, I don't remember what happened in the first half so I NEED TO START AGAIN AND THAT'S FRUSTRATING. It felt like I'd made backwards progress! But I finally got myself to turn back to the first page and I read the whole thing and it is GREAT. Of course it is!
(also, yusss Stephen, go you being sensible and progressive about stuff! "'We see things differently,' said Stephen. 'I have a particular devotion to Our Lady, who was a Jewess, and I cannot feel my race superior to her.'" (p 342) YOU SMACK THAT ANTI-SEMITE DOWN, STEPHEN.)
Dragonbreath, Dragonbreath: Attack of the Ninja Frogs, and Dragonbreath: The Curse of the Were-Wiener, by Ursula Vernon
The Dragonbreath books are cute and fun, but ultimately I don't actually have strong opinions about them despite being such a huge fan of Ursula Vernon, which makes me kind of disappointed. I wanted to love them! But then I was mostly just like, eh, standard-fare children's books, albeit distinctly recognizable as being Ursula Vernon's if you're familiar with her.
(also her habit of using the epithets "the iguana" and "the dragon" to talk about the two main characters is REALLY ANNOYING. Stoppit with the epithets, world, unless they are ACTUALLY RELEVANT to the sentence you are writing! Unless it MATTERS that one of your characters is, for example, a blond man, don't use that as a way to refer to him. Use his name or a pronoun, because really, those are pretty damn invisible and work just fine).
Drystone Walling Techniques and Traditions, by The Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain
Yep, I am indeed that nerdy. I read the whole book in one evening, unable to put it down, because it was so fascinating, and I paid close attention all the way through. There's pretty much zero likelihood of me ever ACTUALLY building or repairing a drystone wall, but I find them really awesome, so reading this book taught me the details of what makes for a good wall and how to go about accomplishing one or recognizing one, and I really appreciate it. Though the day after I read it I had to spend pretty much all day shutting my lips to keep Yet Another Fact About Drystone Walls from escaping -- I mean, just because I find it fascinating doesn't mean everybody will!
The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, by S Bear Bergman
Really interesting! I enjoyed it a lot, and Bear is clearly a very thoughtful person and a good writer. My one problem, though, was that ze did a lot of...conflating of gender PRESENTATION with gender IDENTITY. Ze acknowledged this in one of the essays, even! But continued doing it nonetheless. I do understand that for some people presentation and identity are linked like that. But it's not a universal thing. I identify quite happily as female, but my gender presentation involves things that are both traditionally female AND traditionally male and I feel weird if I don't have that mix.* That doesn't mean, though, that I identify as something other than female, so Bear's celebration of gender diversity felt very much like it wasn't supposed to be for me, even though I think it WAS intended to be read and appreciated by cis people as well as trans.
*this is why I have the haircut I do, which is a pretty boyish haircut. It means that I can wear the skirts and earrings and so forth that I love without having to actively figure out something else to add to the outfit to make it not 100% feminine, because I always have my unfeminine hair.
Tooth and Claw, by Jo Walton
This is a book I first read a VERY long time ago, and decided to reread because I could no longer remember a thing about it. It's really excellent, and I'm glad it stood up as well upon reread as it did in my memory! Also now I want to read some actual Anthony Trollope.
Magician's Ward, by Patricia C. Wrede
Another reread of a previously-read-long-ago book. This is actually the second in a duology but the library appears to have lost the first book in the intervening years since I first read them, so I just went meh and read this one alone. It's a lot of fun, and I definitely really enjoy it, although I am also amused by how Mairelon's mother seems quite of a type with Thomas' mother (from Sorcery & Cecilia, Or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer). Ah well, it's a type that I love so that's okay! :P
H.M.S. Surprise, by Patrick O'Brian
UGH SUCH GOOD TIMES. I love these books and I love these characters! I've been stalled about halfway through this book for, um, two years, I think, although most of that has been me going, I don't remember what happened in the first half so I NEED TO START AGAIN AND THAT'S FRUSTRATING. It felt like I'd made backwards progress! But I finally got myself to turn back to the first page and I read the whole thing and it is GREAT. Of course it is!
(also, yusss Stephen, go you being sensible and progressive about stuff! "'We see things differently,' said Stephen. 'I have a particular devotion to Our Lady, who was a Jewess, and I cannot feel my race superior to her.'" (p 342) YOU SMACK THAT ANTI-SEMITE DOWN, STEPHEN.)
Dragonbreath, Dragonbreath: Attack of the Ninja Frogs, and Dragonbreath: The Curse of the Were-Wiener, by Ursula Vernon
The Dragonbreath books are cute and fun, but ultimately I don't actually have strong opinions about them despite being such a huge fan of Ursula Vernon, which makes me kind of disappointed. I wanted to love them! But then I was mostly just like, eh, standard-fare children's books, albeit distinctly recognizable as being Ursula Vernon's if you're familiar with her.
(also her habit of using the epithets "the iguana" and "the dragon" to talk about the two main characters is REALLY ANNOYING. Stoppit with the epithets, world, unless they are ACTUALLY RELEVANT to the sentence you are writing! Unless it MATTERS that one of your characters is, for example, a blond man, don't use that as a way to refer to him. Use his name or a pronoun, because really, those are pretty damn invisible and work just fine).
Drystone Walling Techniques and Traditions, by The Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain
Yep, I am indeed that nerdy. I read the whole book in one evening, unable to put it down, because it was so fascinating, and I paid close attention all the way through. There's pretty much zero likelihood of me ever ACTUALLY building or repairing a drystone wall, but I find them really awesome, so reading this book taught me the details of what makes for a good wall and how to go about accomplishing one or recognizing one, and I really appreciate it. Though the day after I read it I had to spend pretty much all day shutting my lips to keep Yet Another Fact About Drystone Walls from escaping -- I mean, just because I find it fascinating doesn't mean everybody will!