Sometimes Writing. Always Reading.
The Changeling by Victor Lavalle The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker Vita Nostra by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko It is hot. The world continues to be difficult. But there is reading. I was completely blown away by The Changeling … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading lately, 100+ degrees Fahrenheit edition”
Not beach reads, but things I’m reading outside with a jar of ice tea at my side… Babylon Berlin (English translation of Der Nasse Fisch, not the TV series) by Volker Kutscher Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell Thunder and Lightning by Natalie Goldberg Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading lately: summertime book-and-ice-tea edition”
The Baron in the Trees, by Italo Calvino Monday’s Not Coming, by Tiffany D. Jackson Old Friend from Far Away, by Natalie Goldberg A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine Not much to say, except doing a lot of reading (more than I’m listing here…I’ve been reading some things at the urgings of others and … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading lately: searching for clarity edition”
When I last wrote one of these, I mentioned I was reading Andersen’s Fairy Tales. Specifically, I was reading “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” a story I knew from many childhood re-tellings but I don’t think I’d ever read in the original before. I remembered it as a story about the truth, and the importance of … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading lately: lockdown edition (preceded by bonus thoughts on ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES)”
No, not The Plague, at least not yet! Candide by Voltaire Andersen’s Fairy Tales Sailing to Sarantium (an old favorite) by Guy Gavriel Kay Trinity Sight by Jennifer Givhan (again) And, in the interests of using this time to work on other projects: Dogs: Archaeology Beyond Domestication edited by Brandi Bethke and Amanda Burtt
This has been a cold, dark couple of weeks for me, but – despite ongoing horrible world news – I am stumbling into 2020 with what feels like cautious optimism. I hope. And the older I get, the more I realize what a gift hope is. Here are some things I have been reading during … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading lately, turn of the year edition”
The clarification This is not a book review blog! The fact is that I am in some ways reluctant to call it a blog at all – it’s just my not-very-organized thoughts, usually but not always about what I am reading – but I don’t really know that there’s any other name for what it … Continue reading “A clarification, the what I’ve been reading – everything’s crazy edition, and a memory”
I stumbled across this post by Jo Walton recently – http://www.jowaltonbooks.com/genre-pacing-a-question-from-goodreads/. I thought it was interesting at the time, as genre is something with which I sometimes struggle, but it’s grown more interesting to me in the time since, as I’ve read some books that are certainly admirable in many ways but at the same … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading lately, thinking about genre edition”
It hasn’t all been about the Sirens Reading Challenge! I’ve also been reading: Severance, by Li Ma The Pisces, by Melissa Broder The Nordic Baking Book, by Magnus Nilsson New Art of Cookery: A Spanish Friar’s Kitchen Notebook by Juan Altamiras, by Vicky Hayward The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, by Emily and Melissa … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading – it’s spring! edition”
Recently finished: The Bloodprint, by Ausma Zehanat Khan (Sirens Reading Challenge book) Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin (re-read; Sirens Reading Challenge book) Goodbye Stranger, by Rebecca Stead (reread) Jane, Unlimited, by Kristin Cashore (reread) 2 ARCs from ALA midwinter
In no particular order. There are some notable exceptions on this list, but mostly I’ve been feeling meh about what I’ve been reading lately…another reading slump maybe? Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly Commonwealth by Ann Patchett Tomorrow’s Kin by Nancy Kress Ha’penny by Jo Walton Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman (companion to Seraphina, … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading, long-delayed edition”
I had planned to write extensive reviews of the various things I’ve been reading, but the fact is that I’m not great at writing extensive reviews. At least not on demand, and not while traveling, especially not while traveling for work. So instead, here’s what I’ve been reading with a few short thoughts. Acquired at … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading, July 2017 travel edition”
In no particular order… Classic German Baking, by Luisa Weiss Sacrifice, by Cindy Pon My Brilliant Friend and The Story of a New Name, by Elena Ferrante My Calabria, by Rosetta Constantino Authentic Portuguese Cooking, by Ana Patuleia Ortins Telling New Mexico: A New History, ed. Marta Weigle The Iliad, by Homer, trans. Stephen Mitchell
Serpentine by Cindy Pon Tales from Rugosa Coven by Sarah Avery The Snow Globe by Jenna Nelson A really awesome ms. for a friend (can’t wait to see this one in print!)
Anyone looking at my what I’ve been reading lately posts would probably notice: I like to read books in translation. By books in translation I mostly (but not entirely) mean, books originally published in a non-English language that I then read in English. As I’ve discussed here before, one of my all-time favorite novels is … Continue reading “The adventure of reading literature in translation”
December is, for me, the season of reflection. For the past week or two, as things have wound down at work, in the garden, everywhere, I’ve been thinking about reading and writing – what I’ve been doing over the past year, and what I’d like to change. I didn’t get as much writing done in … Continue reading “Into the new: reflecting on reading and writing in 2019”
Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction (still!) by Jeff VanderMeer A Concise History of Japan by Brett Walker Hiroshige’s Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Hiroshige’s One Hundred Famous Views of Edo Ukiyo-e: the Art of the Japanese Print by Frederick Harris The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Sunzi) The Secret World: A … Continue reading “What I’ve been reading lately, nascent projects edition”
I’ve been relatively slow in my reading this winter; too much else going on. Here’s where I currently stand on the 2019 Sirens Reading Challenge: Guests of Honor (two more to go) Borderline by Mishell Baker Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi The Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan Heroes Books – … Continue reading “Sirens 2019 Reading Challenge reading update”
I have a couple of longer posts brewing right now, but they are going to take a while to finish. They involve some big ideas, and writing (and thinking!) about big ideas takes time and space. But I wanted to link to this thread now, because these big ideas are related in an indirect way … Continue reading “A few thoughts on pseudonymity and updates on reading and writing”
I am a fast reader. When I’m on a reading binge it is not uncommon for me to go through two books (of a reasonable length, say 400 pages each or so) a day, even while doing other regular-life things. But the past two weeks have been different. I’ve been reading a lot, but not … Continue reading “Slow reading”