That’s the book I got from BOTM this month! I’m halfway through Mexican Gothic (Silvia Moreno-Garcia), and then I’m tackling Space Between Worlds! Oh, I’m so excited you get BOTM now - I’ve had it for almost 2 years now, and I’ve gotten so many lovely things.
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Weird thing happened today… I’m currently reading two books, The Haunting of Hill House and The Starless Sea. Only because they were both on my list and became available. But The Starless Sea references Hill House! mentioning the use of the name Eleanor in both books. Never had that happen where a book references another book that I am currently reading
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My husband convinced me to join him reading (listening, for him) The Poppy War and wow is it intense! The characters are a lovely band of misfits, and there are some very comic moments but this is very much a story about what war does to people and nations. So…intense. But really good.
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I went camping this week and took Ella Minnow Pea with me (Thanks @Fox)
It was whymsical and sad and so much more happened than I thought would. Yes, citizens are restricted from using more and more letters, but alongside it all, people are falling in and out of love, families are seperated, and communication is censored. I expected it to be clever and funny, which it was, but it was more than that too. (And hearing my sibling use words like “buzz” while I read it made me have a secret laugh.)
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
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I finally finished Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James (and which was included in one of our Summer Reading Lists!) and oof, I don’t even know if I had words for it yet. The reading experience was very similar to LOTR (lots of walking, lots of lore, fellowship of misfits), but it was also so much grittier and more violent that it felt a lot harder to get through.
That said, it’s a masterpiece, and so different from anything I’ve ever read before. Neil Gaiman’s blurb on the back is pretty spot-on, and he describes it as “A dangerous, hallucinatory, ancient Africa, which becomes a fantasy world as well realized as anything Tolkien made, with language as powerful as Angela Carter’s. It’s something very new that feels old, in the best way.”
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I’ve been on a reading spree the past few days, so I just wrapped up Circe, The Castle in the Air, and The Martian (which my wife has been pestering me to read for a while) and I really enjoyed all of them (though definitely the first and third ones a bit more). I was looking for something to listen to while working today, so I ended up choosing to listen to @Catherine’s recent finish Black Leopard, Red Wolf. I’m not too far into the audio book yet, but I understand what you mean, Catherine - there’s so much going on, I may have to physically read it because I don’t want to miss anything that’s happening. I’ve got it for two weeks, so I’ve got plenty of time, though!
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Oh wow, yeah I don’t know if an audiobook would’ve worked for me. Also, it must be so long!! The book is 620 pages!
Then again, the style of writing definitely calls back to an oral storytelling/griot tradition, and I’m sure the production quality is fantastic, so I bet it’s a full experience. Looking forward to hearing what you think!
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It’s definitely a challenge, but so far, I think I’m following it! Audiobooks were how I grew up consuming a lot of books, and while I’ve gotten back into physical reading over the past few years, I still enjoy listening to audiobooks, especially when audio books, want a break from podcasts!
And it’s a very long audio book - over 24 hours! It’s not longer than some of the GOT books, but it’s still a daunting length. Most of the audio books I’ve listened to recently have been 10-14 hours and I’ve listened to them at 1.5x speed. I can’t really do that with this book, but I haven’t mind it that much. It’s certainly not a relaxing book, but it is one that I’m enjoying while doing mindless data editing!
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Definitely not relaxing, but perfect for focusing on if you’ve got another menial task keeping you busy! I didn’t grow up listening to audiobooks, so I find them difficult to follow unless I kind of know the story already. But it sounds like it’ll be a good fit for you!!
Also, completely wild that an entire day of your life could be potentially devoted to listening to one book (I know you’re doing something while listening so it’s a little different, but it always blows my mind to see something laid out in terms of hours like that)!
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I’ve been completely sucked into the Grishaverse trilogy, and I just started book three. They’re much shorter than I expected them to be, but still pack so much action and story into each one. I like the heavy Russian influence of Ravka, and my meager knowledge of Russian actually allowed me to recognize a few Ravkan words which is fun.
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Yessss. Those ones were so fun. And I totally forgot about the Russian influences in Ravka! That’s helpful for next week’s blog post…
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So I finished Black Leopard, Red Wolf on Friday and, honestly, I don’t know how to feel. I think that Catherine said it really well: “it’s a masterpiece, and so different from anything I’ve ever read before.” It certainly isn’t for everyone - I understood that it was going to have gritty and violent parts, but there’s so much that happens that left me uncomfortable in ways that I don’t think a lot of violence in media, and especially not in books, ever has. I’m not a super big fan of violence, but the unsanitized nature of it in this book, while distressing, I think also made me reflect on sanitized it is in most other media, especially in fantasy settings like The Lord of the Rings. While I am not saying that I think all media should be like that (far, far from it), I think it did make the things that happened in this book for impactful: some really terrible things happen, and the sort of detached melancholy of Tolkien would not have been as effective (nor Martin’s third person). The choice of a first-person point of view gives the story more weight and also make the world feel very lived in and expansive, but different than Middle Earth. It’s a really great book, but I feel odd recommending it without a slough of content warnings: extreme violence, sexual assault and rape, child sexual assault, body horror, and probably much more. It is not a book for everyone, and that’s completely okay.
Moving away from that, I am now working on House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones and Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (I know, I am a glutton for long book punishment right now - I even chose the 10th anniversary edition which is longer than the original). I am enjoying them a lot: I like House of Many Ways even more than Castle in the Air, and American Gods is another book that’s quite different from other books I have read. The best description I have so far is very grown up Rick Riordan, but I’m only about a fifth of the way into the book, so that perception might change.
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Hey all!
I’m taking a quick dive into romance novels with the book Wild Irish Heart. Has anyone read it before?
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Thank you for the CWs @Remus, those are definitely worth mentioning because they are heavy. I think the way you described it as unsanitized is spot on—not in a judgmental sense, like clean vs. dirty, but more in a completely raw and unfiltered sense that wouldn’t fit in LOTR or even GOT, even though GOT is also known for its violence. I like the way it makes us rethink our definition of a fantasy experience, though, and definitely broadens the genre.
@Mr5yy, I haven’t read Wild Irish Heart, but I just looked at it on Goodreads and ancient books, mysterious power, and surly Irishmen?? Sign me up.
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In other news, since August seemed to be such a big reading month for everyone, I made a list on Bookshop of all the books mentioned here during the month of August!! I think I’ll keep compiling these on a monthly basis so that we can keep track of what everyone’s reading and make it easier to find new books and recommendations! (Plus I just love the book cover collages they make for the headers, tbh.) There’s such a great variety here, we’re clearly a community with fabulous taste in books.
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Finally finished the Grishaverse trilogy and it was quite a ride. I definitely get why they have such a strong following and I can’t believe I hadn’t read them before now. I do want to read the other books from the same universe, but I think I need a break to read something else for a little while, as those were pretty heavy. I have a box full of books to be read so I shouldn’t be short of options.
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I find Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom are very different to the core grishaverse trilogy. There still the elements there but they feel less fantasy, less focus on the magic and the orders, more gritty and I don’t recall there being much character cross over.
They’re definitely next on my to read again.
@Catherine the monthly bookshop is an epic idea! I love it.
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I love the book list @Catherine!
I dove into the nostalgia pond and started rereading Jane Lindskold’s Firekeeper series. Anyone heard of this one? It started in 2002, and I loved it back in the day. The writing is uh…clunky, to say the least, but the protagonist is a girl raised by intelligent wolves and I can’t resist that premise! I never finished the series then, so I’m excited to reach the ending.
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