Reading Wednesday
Jun. 5th, 2013 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
Swami and Friends by R.K. Narayan. I somehow didn't realize this was the first in a trilogy! I was aware that most of Narayan's work is vaguely related to one other, due to being set in the same fictional town, but now I am left with needing to track down the other two books connected to this one.
Anyway, regarding the book itself, it was sweet and gentle, without being particularly deep or having much of a plot. It reminded me a lot of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.
Die Upon a Kiss by Barbara Hambly. The mystery in this book is amazingly well-plotted; there's a lot of minor details early on that come to have big pay-offs in the end. I also love the scene with the Italians getting arrested on suspicion of being run-away slaves; it's a nice reversal to the many stories of light-skinned mixed race people passing as Italian. (Speaking of those Italians, man, Silvio and Bruno were super slashy, weren't they? I don't want to do it myself, but someone should write that fic.) This book also makes me want to listen to lots of opera, despite knowing incredibly little about it. There's just too much of Ben waxing Romantic on the beauties of the music to not want to listen.
I do wish there was one more scene with Hannibal at the end. He gets almost killed and then immediately leaves town, and doesn't really get a chance to say anything about either event.
What are you currently reading?
Wet Grave by Barbara Hambly. Ben and Rose fight off gun-smugglers, pirates, murderous Creoles, alligators, and a hurricane! Simultaneously!
Bookless in Baghdad by Shashi Tharoor. A collection of essays. Oh, Tharoor, I do like you, but you just do not sound exciting as the whole alligator/hurricane/pirate thing.
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey. Uh, I think I have found the inspiration for the character of Hannibal. Between quoting random poets, much discussion of his fluency in ancient Greek, sleeping in some random dude's unfurnished living room, making friends with prostitutes (with much protestations of "I loved her like a sister! Besides, I didn't have enough money to love her in any other way"), and deciding to just drink lots of wine if you don't feel up to eating, I am clearly seeing the connection. And I haven't even gotten far enough into the book for him to start taking opium!
Swami and Friends by R.K. Narayan. I somehow didn't realize this was the first in a trilogy! I was aware that most of Narayan's work is vaguely related to one other, due to being set in the same fictional town, but now I am left with needing to track down the other two books connected to this one.
Anyway, regarding the book itself, it was sweet and gentle, without being particularly deep or having much of a plot. It reminded me a lot of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.
Die Upon a Kiss by Barbara Hambly. The mystery in this book is amazingly well-plotted; there's a lot of minor details early on that come to have big pay-offs in the end. I also love the scene with the Italians getting arrested on suspicion of being run-away slaves; it's a nice reversal to the many stories of light-skinned mixed race people passing as Italian. (Speaking of those Italians, man, Silvio and Bruno were super slashy, weren't they? I don't want to do it myself, but someone should write that fic.) This book also makes me want to listen to lots of opera, despite knowing incredibly little about it. There's just too much of Ben waxing Romantic on the beauties of the music to not want to listen.
I do wish there was one more scene with Hannibal at the end. He gets almost killed and then immediately leaves town, and doesn't really get a chance to say anything about either event.
What are you currently reading?
Wet Grave by Barbara Hambly. Ben and Rose fight off gun-smugglers, pirates, murderous Creoles, alligators, and a hurricane! Simultaneously!
Bookless in Baghdad by Shashi Tharoor. A collection of essays. Oh, Tharoor, I do like you, but you just do not sound exciting as the whole alligator/hurricane/pirate thing.
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey. Uh, I think I have found the inspiration for the character of Hannibal. Between quoting random poets, much discussion of his fluency in ancient Greek, sleeping in some random dude's unfurnished living room, making friends with prostitutes (with much protestations of "I loved her like a sister! Besides, I didn't have enough money to love her in any other way"), and deciding to just drink lots of wine if you don't feel up to eating, I am clearly seeing the connection. And I haven't even gotten far enough into the book for him to start taking opium!
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Date: 2013-06-08 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-08 07:44 pm (UTC)