Reading Wednesday
Jun. 19th, 2013 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
The Co-Wife and Other Stories by Munshi Premchand. A collection of short stories by a famous Hindi author, who I had not read before. This- it seemed to me- is a fairly comprehensive overview of the various genres he wrote in, along with most of his most famous stories (Winter's Night, Shroud, Panch Parameshvar). There is definitely a tendency for his stories to read like morality plays. I don't think I'll be seeking out more of his work, though I liked this well enough.
Days of the Dead by Barbara Hambly. OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. *flail* I think this is possibly my favorite of the January books. Or Dead Water. Or The Shirt on His Back. IT'S REALLY HARD TO CHOOSE. But this book is like one long streak of id: Hannibal angsting in handcuffs and Rose dressing up as her "evil twin sister" to go flirt at the Opera before dressing up as a man to go herd cattle and Ben pretending to be stoic while secretly being desperate to protect everyone he loves and then everything comes down to PEANUTS. Bandits! Insane asylums! Cathedrals! Becoming-a-nun parties! Bull fighting! Hannibal in drag! Aztec pyramids! Human sacrifice! Ghosts! Santa Anna is hanging around being a suave asshole! Ugh, it's amazing. I love the setting; I don't think I've ever read anything else set in Mexico City and its outskirts in the 1830s, but this book makes it sound fascinating. There's also a lot of really interesting one-off characters in this one; Valentina and Don Prospero and Ylario and Werther and Cristobal should all make re-appearances, as far as I'm concerned.
Also, I wish I knew more about the Aztecs. I'm pretty familiar with the Mayans, but not so much most of the other Precolumbian Mesoamerican cultures.
Dead Water by Barbara Hambly. Murder on a steamboat! I really like how this book uses the "country house" mystery trope (no one can come, no one can leave), except it's a steamboat instead. This book is just entirely comprised of OT3 feelings for me, from where Hannibal agrees to help because "I love you and Rose too much" to where he throws a pillow at Ben (THEY ARE SUCH 12-YEAR-OLDS) to where Rose kisses Hannibal to where all three of them get in a massive fight about Hannibal risking his life to protect the other two, during which Ben compares himself to a lady and Hannibal to his suitor. The whole duel plotline is so sad and sweet and basically the best thing ever. I want there to be fanfiction about the three of them heading back downstream to New Orleans, in which they are sharing a cabin and- not being busy solving murders- just hang out and play music and dance and drink coffee and have sex.
I also love the blackmail mystery of Jubal Cain ("What's the only thing worse than a slave trader?" made me laugh SO HARD). Note: the first time I read this, I managed to not realize that Col. Davis is the Jefferson Davis until I got to the author's note in the back. Being aware of it this time made for a slightly odd reading experience; he's such a good guy here.
What are you currently reading?
A River Sutra by Gita Mehta. This is turning out to be way more of a ~India is such a spiritual country~ book than I could have predicted from what I've read by the author previously.
Dead and Buried by Barbara Hambly. Hannibal backstory!
The Co-Wife and Other Stories by Munshi Premchand. A collection of short stories by a famous Hindi author, who I had not read before. This- it seemed to me- is a fairly comprehensive overview of the various genres he wrote in, along with most of his most famous stories (Winter's Night, Shroud, Panch Parameshvar). There is definitely a tendency for his stories to read like morality plays. I don't think I'll be seeking out more of his work, though I liked this well enough.
Days of the Dead by Barbara Hambly. OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. *flail* I think this is possibly my favorite of the January books. Or Dead Water. Or The Shirt on His Back. IT'S REALLY HARD TO CHOOSE. But this book is like one long streak of id: Hannibal angsting in handcuffs and Rose dressing up as her "evil twin sister" to go flirt at the Opera before dressing up as a man to go herd cattle and Ben pretending to be stoic while secretly being desperate to protect everyone he loves and then everything comes down to PEANUTS. Bandits! Insane asylums! Cathedrals! Becoming-a-nun parties! Bull fighting! Hannibal in drag! Aztec pyramids! Human sacrifice! Ghosts! Santa Anna is hanging around being a suave asshole! Ugh, it's amazing. I love the setting; I don't think I've ever read anything else set in Mexico City and its outskirts in the 1830s, but this book makes it sound fascinating. There's also a lot of really interesting one-off characters in this one; Valentina and Don Prospero and Ylario and Werther and Cristobal should all make re-appearances, as far as I'm concerned.
Also, I wish I knew more about the Aztecs. I'm pretty familiar with the Mayans, but not so much most of the other Precolumbian Mesoamerican cultures.
Dead Water by Barbara Hambly. Murder on a steamboat! I really like how this book uses the "country house" mystery trope (no one can come, no one can leave), except it's a steamboat instead. This book is just entirely comprised of OT3 feelings for me, from where Hannibal agrees to help because "I love you and Rose too much" to where he throws a pillow at Ben (THEY ARE SUCH 12-YEAR-OLDS) to where Rose kisses Hannibal to where all three of them get in a massive fight about Hannibal risking his life to protect the other two, during which Ben compares himself to a lady and Hannibal to his suitor. The whole duel plotline is so sad and sweet and basically the best thing ever. I want there to be fanfiction about the three of them heading back downstream to New Orleans, in which they are sharing a cabin and- not being busy solving murders- just hang out and play music and dance and drink coffee and have sex.
I also love the blackmail mystery of Jubal Cain ("What's the only thing worse than a slave trader?" made me laugh SO HARD). Note: the first time I read this, I managed to not realize that Col. Davis is the Jefferson Davis until I got to the author's note in the back. Being aware of it this time made for a slightly odd reading experience; he's such a good guy here.
What are you currently reading?
A River Sutra by Gita Mehta. This is turning out to be way more of a ~India is such a spiritual country~ book than I could have predicted from what I've read by the author previously.
Dead and Buried by Barbara Hambly. Hannibal backstory!
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no subject
Date: 2013-06-26 11:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-28 02:14 am (UTC)A lot of people, if they felt like they had no ties to anyone, would be cruel and uncaring. But Hannibal is naturally just friendly and interested in others and so he's kind even when he doesn't "have" to be. In fact, he's more compassionate because he's not following social conventions, and not just in regards to race (which, yeah, is exactly what Ben needed the night they met and is totally why they get along so well, because they both have that quality). Ben likes to roll his eyes and be like "Oh, Hannibal, he's always flirting with some lady", but I think most of Hannibal's relationships with women are completely platonic (not that I think he's chaste, it's just that he enjoys talking with people as much as he enjoys getting into bed with them). And he probably has so many female friends because he doesn't treat them like they're stupid, or incompetent, or shallow, or whores, or whatever else would be typical for the 1830s. He does seem to really like quoting poetry about how pretty someone is, but appears to be sensitive to who would and would not appreciate that sort of thing, since he never does it to Rose.
Because, you know, Benjamin has this unstoppable people-helping desire and Hannibal loves sidekicking because he can do it while convincing himself he's not involved (and also, he looooves following people - someone else giving him structure!).
Hahahaha, TRUTH.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 01:01 am (UTC)Also, yessss, respecting women is the superpower that Ben and Hannibal share, though they do so in extremely different ways. With Ben it's more "please honor me with sharing your vast tactical insights and life experiences". With Hannibal it's "Ribbons! :D! Shakespeare!". But both of them are entirely aware that women are human beings with thoughts and feelings and motivations, and this sets them apart from most men in their society.
(Shaw, too, is aware of it though! I wonder what his wife was like...)
Mmm, very good point about never trying to flatter Rose. I will have to pay attention, when I reread, to the selectiveness of his flattery - it never once felt sleezy or intrusive, as far as I rememvber!
no subject
Date: 2013-06-29 05:53 pm (UTC)It's also interesting the way they both deal with class differences; Ben tends to change his behavior and speech to fit in more with whoever he's currently talking to, while Hannibal just treats everyone exactly the same.
I was really surprised to find out that Shaw had been married! I want to find out all the details on that.
I noticed the poetry thing because I would find it sort of off-putting to have someone quoting poetry about my beauty (particularly if we've just met), so I was surprised to see so many characters who didn't mind. But as long as everyone involved is happy, it's fine!
If I remember correctly, he also doesn't do it to Consuela, which is interesting because I think she would totally be amused by that. Perhaps he just does it off-screen.