Books read in April 2018

[nou]

As per last month, by default I’m just stating whether I'd recommend the book (yes/maybe/no), whether I decided not to finish it (DNF), whether it's a re-read, and whether I can remember there being any content that needs to be warned for (cw). I’m happy to expand on the reasons for my opinions if anyone is interested though — just comment and ask.

Recommend:

• A Taste Of Honey, Kai Ashante Wilson (cw: homophobia)
• The Second Mango, Climbing the Date Palm, A Harvest of Ripe Figs, The Olive Conspiracy, and Tales From Perach, Shira Glassman

Maybe recommend:

• The Tea Master And The Detective, Aliette De Bodard
• The Native Heath and The Mingham Air, Elizabeth Fair (cw: colonialism)
• Dichronauts, Greg Egan (re-read)

Wouldn’t recommend:

• Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel (re-read) (cw: suicide)
• Thinking, Fast And Slow, Daniel Kahneman (DNF) (cw: food moralising)
• Cat Country, Lao She translated by William A Lyell (DNF) (cw: child abuse, sexism, rape)
• Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, Julie Dao (DNF)

What have you recently read and enjoyed? (Feel free to point towards posts on your own journal.)

Comments

[fluffymormegil]

Most of my fiction reading is fanfic, chiefly on a web forum called Sufficient Velocity.

In print, I've recently read and enjoyed In the King's Service, Childe Morgan, and King Kelson's Bride, three of Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels which I hadn't previously read.

[nou]

Thank you! I've tried the Deryni novels in the past and couldn't get into them, but I can't remember why, nor can I remember which one I started with.

[selki]

This prompted me to finally post an update, which included some notes on books. You might like *The Honey Month*. https://selki.dreamwidth.org/512297.html

[nou]

Thank you! I’m not a huge fan of poetry, but have grabbed a Kindle sample to check out.

I don’t know if you’re a cocktail person, but if you are: one of my favourite things to do with honey is thyme and pear bee’s knees.

[selki]

Ooh, looks lovely.

[miss_newham]

Hmm yes, I read 'Station Eleven' for the office book club (in fact it was my suggestion!) but didn't really rate it. I can't remember why now - I think we didn't care about the main character enough, or the magic of post-apocalyptic Shakespeare.

[nou]

There were a couple of tropes in it I really disliked: (skip spoilers) firstly, the one where a disabled person commits suicide because their continued existence would be too much trouble for the abled; and secondly, the post-apocalyptic prophet who controls all the women. The first of these is just generally thoughtless and awful, and the second is a bit of a cliche now, which (for me) made the plot tedious rather than interesting.

[miss_newham]

I can't see the things you don't like, just a grey box and a bracket telling me to skip spoilers! I like spoilers!

[nou]

Highlight the grey box (e.g. by clicking on it) and you should be able to see the text. The “skip spoilers” link is mainly for screenreaders.

[miss_newham]

Aha!

[mrs_leroy_brown]

Hmm, I don't know if "enjoyed" is the right word, but I was very moved by Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay. It's a difficult read but written beautifully.

Nearly finished with To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine, another memoir which I am very much enjoying.

[nou]

I’ve seen several people talking about Hunger. The author isn’t fat-positive even though she writes about fatness, and so I won’t be reading the book myself, but I think this sort of thing can probably be useful for non-fat people to read, as long as they don’t take it as reflecting every fat person’s experience. Some of us just happen to be fat due to normal human variation and diversity, and don’t have any trauma or sadness around it.

The Viv Albertine one sounds good! Would you recommend reading her first one before this?

[doseybat]

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund.

What it says on the tin, the exact opposite of fiction, beautifully written explanation of how well humanity has done and why people are not aware of this. Couldn't put it down.

[nou]

Thank you! I've downloaded a Kindle sample. I could definitely do with reading something positive.

[lady_smutterella]

I've been reading a lot of fanfic this month tbh, which has cut into my book time, but I figure that 250k of excellently researched P&P soulmark AU is better than a lot of the paper books I've read, so...

Otherwise the best thing I've read recently is If We Were Villains my ML Rio. Would thoroughly recommend.

(Also, hi. This is me. B-H. >.>)

[nou]

Thank you, and hello secret identity :) I’ve downloaded a sample of If We Were Villans and added it to my reading queue. Slightly bemused by the fact that when I searched for it on the Kindle Store, the third hit was Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook...