Weekend Reading Roundup (12 September 2017)

[nanila]

How did your weekend reading go? If you planned on anything specifically, did you read it?

Comments

[nanila]

Noooooope, reading fail this weekend (apart from children's books, to the children).

[nou]

I have failed to read any children's books to the child for a good few weeks now. I hope to do better this weekend!

[nou]

Thank you for the reminder to do this. I read four books to Toby yesterday (all chosen by him from my collection): Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, Riley Can Be Anything by Davina Hamilton and Elena Reinoso, Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore, and Harold And The Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson.

[musyc]

I've started a non-fiction book about mortuary science - The Chick and the Dead, by Carla Valentine. So far, enjoying it. She's got a nice conversational tone and explains technical terms and jargon easily. Wish she wasn't quite so descriptive of her childhood explorations of roadkill and other dead animals, though - I find descriptions of human remains much easier to handle.

[lapinlunaire]

This sounds awesome, I'll have to check it out! :D

[nou]

Thanks for this! I've just added it to my to-try list via downloading a Kindle sample (it seems to be called Past Mortems in the UK).

[lapinlunaire]

This weekend was kind of a reading fail for me too :(

[nanila]

Sympathies, and best of luck for this weekend. I received two new fun books for my birthday, so I have high hopes!

[fred_mouse]

A bit more of Anais Nin's "In favour of the sensitive man", and because I now have given myself permission to start new books on Sundays, regardless of the number I already have open, I started 'ICO' by Miyuke Miyabe, which turns out to be a novelisation of a playstation game, but beautiful to read even though I have no idea of the game.

[lapinlunaire]

Ico is amazing, I had no idea there was a book (and a good one at that).

[fred_mouse]

Having finished it - the book was lovely, and did some really interesting things with world building, but it was a bit of an odd one to read for a number of reasons, including the pacing and the rather abrupt change in POV character part way through.

[nanila]

'ICO' by Miyuke Miyabe, which turns out to be a novelisation of a playstation game

This is a fascinating premise. I will add it to the very long "check it out" list

[fred_mouse]

It is pretty, but the plot beats are kind of in the wrong place. I'm not sure how much this is because it was a puzzle game, and how much is non-English writer. I've reached a point where the viewpoint has changed, and it is a bit hard to make the switch.

[fred_mouse]

Having finished reading it, it might well make a really good read-aloud story for the right age group kid, because it does work in little chunks, and the descriptions are beautiful, so it would be good for stimulating imagination.

[nou]

Since last report, I have read loads of things, mainly because (a) I went on holiday and (b) it's been ages since my last report. Thus:

• The Windfall by Diksha Basu. Some light holiday reading, not bad at all, might re-read on a future holiday. I liked the multiple interconnected storylines.
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. A generational novel covering so many generations I found myself losing track of who was who towards the end. A good read, though a difficult one in places.
• Fearsome Journeys edited by Jonathan Strahan. A good, varied collection of fantasy short stories.
• Wetware: Cyberpunk Erotica edited by Violet Blue. Not bad; might read again.
• Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt by John Grindrod. Really really good.
• Wireless: The Essential Charles Stross. I got this for the novella included in it, “Palimpsest”. I did enjoy that one, but the others were all a bit meh, and in places a bit creepy (as in icky, not as in scary).
• Evening Is The Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan. Got 10% of the way through, wasn’t digging it, stopped.
• The Case Of The Late Pig by Margery Allingham. Aside from the casual fatphobia, a good short read!
• The September 2016 issue of Clarkesworld. Some good stories, some not my thing.
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman. A re-read after many years. I enjoyed it the first time I read it, but it feels a bit too close to the "evil stepmother" trope for me now.
• Bramton Wick by Elizabeth Fair. Decent enough light reading, will read more.
• Taken By The Hand by O Douglas (Anna Masterton Buchan). As previously reported, there are issues of occasional racism, classism, and sexism in this author’s books, but I still enjoyed reading this one. I think the main thing I enjoy about them is that they take the mother-daughter relationship seriously.

[nanila]

Wow, that is quite a list! Congratulations on all of it.

I agree that Coraline has not held up well with time. I liked it a lot when I first read it and now can't stomach it.

[nou]

Thanks! And glad it's not just me.