Reading Meme and other things...
Jan. 29th, 2014 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Reading Meme...
Finished An Uncommon Whore by Belinda McBride which was okay. Reminded me a great deal of Captive Prince, which is a whole lot better. Both are male/male romance novels set in either a fantasy or science fiction setting, about a disposed prince who has been turned into a sex slave and is fighting to get his kingdom back. But one, An Uncommon Whore focuses more on the sexual/romantic relationship, while Captive Prince focuses more on the politics, the situation, and the friendship/love relationship.
Interesting...An Uncommon Whore not only has a sequel, but there's an illustrated version of the two books. Not sure what to make of that.
Currently Reading
* The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan - who is an interesting romance writer. She's a former law professor with an fascination with science or so I've read. Which may explain her fascination with Victorian propriety and how it not only set science back, but caged women. In all three of her novels - Duchess War, Heiress Effect, and Countess Conspiracy - the heroine is trapped by societal conventions. She is provided with limited opportunity - either marriage or spinsterhood - as a governess, nurse, or social outcast.
If married - she must bend to her husband's rule and his conventions. How dare she have a mind of her own - or worse, not want to be a domestic goddess or do wifely things! (I knew there was a reason I despised the Victorian era outside of the fact that the prissiness gets old after a bit.) In The Duchess War - the heroine is a brilliant chess player, who becomes a chess prodigy as a child. But since she's female, and women don't play chess, her father passes her off as male. When the secret is exposed, her father is thrown into prison as a fraud, he sort of saves himself by denouncing her as a demon child that talked him into it. In The Heiress Effect - the heroine is wealthy and out-spoken, with bold and somewhat loud tastes, and a social outcast for daring to speak her mind. And finally in The Countess Conspiracy the heroine is a botanist and scientist, who has discovered inherited traits in animal and plants. But she has the hero publish and give lectures on the subject. Since it would be just too scandalous for a woman to talk about such a subject. It's scandalous for a man, of course, but even worse for a woman. Because the gentler sex doesn't do these things...they knit and crochet and plan parties instead. The heroine in all three books is struggling not to suffocate under the weight of propriety, social convention and sexism.
Of the three I've read, I'd say this one has the most likable hero. The heroine is a wee bit on the prickly side, but if you've read the other two books first - she's quite likable. I do recommend reading the Duchess War and the Heiress Effect before this one. I'm not done with it yet. And so far, my main criticism is the writer is hammering me over the head with how insanely conventional, petty and prissy the hero/heroine's immediate family members are. I despise them and I don't think I'm supposed to.
* The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - this is a book that you have to be in the right mood to read. It's not a page-turner. It's rather meditative actually, and highly quotable. I've found reading it before bed each night - to be relaxing. And since the chapters are only 4-5 pages long, sometimes 2 pages long - this works quite nicely.
The story is about two sisters, Laura and Iris, from 1933- 1998. Some chapters focus on Iris, who has begun to write her memoirs, and other focus on a science fiction novel written by her sister, Laura. Weaved in between are newspaper clippings on the family activities and deaths. The story jumps from the 1970s to the 1930s to the 1990s. And focuses primarily on the relationship between the two sisters and how this relationship evolved. It also focuses on writing and the craft of writing. It's a fascinating book that requires contemplation and should not be swallowed in one big gulp. The sort of book you sip, bit by delicious bit, savoring each drop.
Reading next?
Eh...I can't plan that far ahead. Whatever strikes my fancy. My current plan is to read two books at once. One before bed and at home. The other on my commute. Page-turners or lighter reads for the commute, and more literary/deeper books for bed and home. This may make it possible for me to finally read books such as 1Q84 - which is a tome and I can't lug around, Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange - also a tome, and Mists of Avalon, another tome.
Although, I think I'll tackle Meg Wolster's The Interestings after The Blind Assassin.
After The Countess Conspiracy - it's either Sherry Thomas' His at Night or Luckiest Lady or Beguiling the Beauty.
[My favorite romance novelists at the moment are Sherry Thomas and Courtney Milan...for angst, and Eloisa James for comedy.]
2. On a personal work related front..the news from the union is not good. Looking more and more like a strike in March. Great, my first strike from the other side of the fence. And I've learned a few things - 1) You don't get paid, except a very small amount from your union for agreeing to picket. 2) You don't work or worry about work while on strike. You just picket. (apparently that's the whole point of striking). 3) if the organization caves, I get a small raise, end up with a contribution to health insurance deducted from said raise, and a potential fare increase. In short - there goes the miniscule raise. Seems sort of pointless, doesn't it?
Finished An Uncommon Whore by Belinda McBride which was okay. Reminded me a great deal of Captive Prince, which is a whole lot better. Both are male/male romance novels set in either a fantasy or science fiction setting, about a disposed prince who has been turned into a sex slave and is fighting to get his kingdom back. But one, An Uncommon Whore focuses more on the sexual/romantic relationship, while Captive Prince focuses more on the politics, the situation, and the friendship/love relationship.
Interesting...An Uncommon Whore not only has a sequel, but there's an illustrated version of the two books. Not sure what to make of that.
Currently Reading
* The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan - who is an interesting romance writer. She's a former law professor with an fascination with science or so I've read. Which may explain her fascination with Victorian propriety and how it not only set science back, but caged women. In all three of her novels - Duchess War, Heiress Effect, and Countess Conspiracy - the heroine is trapped by societal conventions. She is provided with limited opportunity - either marriage or spinsterhood - as a governess, nurse, or social outcast.
If married - she must bend to her husband's rule and his conventions. How dare she have a mind of her own - or worse, not want to be a domestic goddess or do wifely things! (I knew there was a reason I despised the Victorian era outside of the fact that the prissiness gets old after a bit.) In The Duchess War - the heroine is a brilliant chess player, who becomes a chess prodigy as a child. But since she's female, and women don't play chess, her father passes her off as male. When the secret is exposed, her father is thrown into prison as a fraud, he sort of saves himself by denouncing her as a demon child that talked him into it. In The Heiress Effect - the heroine is wealthy and out-spoken, with bold and somewhat loud tastes, and a social outcast for daring to speak her mind. And finally in The Countess Conspiracy the heroine is a botanist and scientist, who has discovered inherited traits in animal and plants. But she has the hero publish and give lectures on the subject. Since it would be just too scandalous for a woman to talk about such a subject. It's scandalous for a man, of course, but even worse for a woman. Because the gentler sex doesn't do these things...they knit and crochet and plan parties instead. The heroine in all three books is struggling not to suffocate under the weight of propriety, social convention and sexism.
Of the three I've read, I'd say this one has the most likable hero. The heroine is a wee bit on the prickly side, but if you've read the other two books first - she's quite likable. I do recommend reading the Duchess War and the Heiress Effect before this one. I'm not done with it yet. And so far, my main criticism is the writer is hammering me over the head with how insanely conventional, petty and prissy the hero/heroine's immediate family members are. I despise them and I don't think I'm supposed to.
* The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - this is a book that you have to be in the right mood to read. It's not a page-turner. It's rather meditative actually, and highly quotable. I've found reading it before bed each night - to be relaxing. And since the chapters are only 4-5 pages long, sometimes 2 pages long - this works quite nicely.
The story is about two sisters, Laura and Iris, from 1933- 1998. Some chapters focus on Iris, who has begun to write her memoirs, and other focus on a science fiction novel written by her sister, Laura. Weaved in between are newspaper clippings on the family activities and deaths. The story jumps from the 1970s to the 1930s to the 1990s. And focuses primarily on the relationship between the two sisters and how this relationship evolved. It also focuses on writing and the craft of writing. It's a fascinating book that requires contemplation and should not be swallowed in one big gulp. The sort of book you sip, bit by delicious bit, savoring each drop.
Reading next?
Eh...I can't plan that far ahead. Whatever strikes my fancy. My current plan is to read two books at once. One before bed and at home. The other on my commute. Page-turners or lighter reads for the commute, and more literary/deeper books for bed and home. This may make it possible for me to finally read books such as 1Q84 - which is a tome and I can't lug around, Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange - also a tome, and Mists of Avalon, another tome.
Although, I think I'll tackle Meg Wolster's The Interestings after The Blind Assassin.
After The Countess Conspiracy - it's either Sherry Thomas' His at Night or Luckiest Lady or Beguiling the Beauty.
[My favorite romance novelists at the moment are Sherry Thomas and Courtney Milan...for angst, and Eloisa James for comedy.]
2. On a personal work related front..the news from the union is not good. Looking more and more like a strike in March. Great, my first strike from the other side of the fence. And I've learned a few things - 1) You don't get paid, except a very small amount from your union for agreeing to picket. 2) You don't work or worry about work while on strike. You just picket. (apparently that's the whole point of striking). 3) if the organization caves, I get a small raise, end up with a contribution to health insurance deducted from said raise, and a potential fare increase. In short - there goes the miniscule raise. Seems sort of pointless, doesn't it?