Reading Wednesday
Jan. 29th, 2014 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
Wife by Bharati Mukherjee. This novel was, uh, quite odd. The story of a young woman in 1970s Calcutta, who has an arranged marriage and then moves to New York City, where she deals with frustration and miscommunications with her husband, culture shock, isolation, and possibly... depression? Schizophrenia? I don't know. The end of the book gets really weird and she starts having hallucinations and no longer being able to differentiate between reality and fantasies.
The beginning of the book was quite good! A very well-written, vivid portrayal of a young woman who doesn't know what she wants out of her life. The early parts of the NYC section were also good, though there's not much plot, and the characters and dialogue are excessively stereotypical of the 70s. The last paragraph- literally! just that one paragraph!- of the book comes out of nowhere and really upends a lot what came before for me. Not particularly recommended.
Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold. I really loved this book! I had low expectations, after having heard some negative reviews, but I thought it was great. It reminded me a lot of the early books in the series (The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game)- the ones in which the point is Miles having space adventures and solving things at the last second- but better written. I loved seeing Bel again, and really liked some of the expansion of the world-building regarding the hermaphrodites (Miles regretting never having taken up Bel's flirtation, Bel's rant about the use of 'it' as a pronoun on Beta), as there were things about that which had been bothering me, but that I'd put up to the series having started in the 80s. But I'm glad to see them addressed!
I also really loved seeing more of the quaddies and their culture, and Guppy was a great new character. Ekaterin was also great (I loved her ordering Miles not to die!), though I wish there'd been more of her. Mysterious killer diseases are always terrifying, and this one was appropriately horrible and suspenseful. I liked the resolution of the mystery ("We can't have a war there are children almost present!"), particularly the call backs to Cetaganda. I wish there'd been a little more detail on Bel at the end- I feel like it was unclear on what the consequences of the disease would be- but I did love the scene with the babies.
What are you currently reading?
Freedom Song by Amit Chaudhuri. Three novellas (short stories? long stories?) set in India.
Death Without Company by Craig Johnson. The second in the Longmire mystery series, set in modern-day rural Wyoming. Which, I learned in the first few pages, is apparently the least populous state in the US! I definitely would have guessed Alaska or one of the Dakotas.
Wife by Bharati Mukherjee. This novel was, uh, quite odd. The story of a young woman in 1970s Calcutta, who has an arranged marriage and then moves to New York City, where she deals with frustration and miscommunications with her husband, culture shock, isolation, and possibly... depression? Schizophrenia? I don't know. The end of the book gets really weird and she starts having hallucinations and no longer being able to differentiate between reality and fantasies.
The beginning of the book was quite good! A very well-written, vivid portrayal of a young woman who doesn't know what she wants out of her life. The early parts of the NYC section were also good, though there's not much plot, and the characters and dialogue are excessively stereotypical of the 70s. The last paragraph- literally! just that one paragraph!- of the book comes out of nowhere and really upends a lot what came before for me. Not particularly recommended.
Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold. I really loved this book! I had low expectations, after having heard some negative reviews, but I thought it was great. It reminded me a lot of the early books in the series (The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game)- the ones in which the point is Miles having space adventures and solving things at the last second- but better written. I loved seeing Bel again, and really liked some of the expansion of the world-building regarding the hermaphrodites (Miles regretting never having taken up Bel's flirtation, Bel's rant about the use of 'it' as a pronoun on Beta), as there were things about that which had been bothering me, but that I'd put up to the series having started in the 80s. But I'm glad to see them addressed!
I also really loved seeing more of the quaddies and their culture, and Guppy was a great new character. Ekaterin was also great (I loved her ordering Miles not to die!), though I wish there'd been more of her. Mysterious killer diseases are always terrifying, and this one was appropriately horrible and suspenseful. I liked the resolution of the mystery ("We can't have a war there are children almost present!"), particularly the call backs to Cetaganda. I wish there'd been a little more detail on Bel at the end- I feel like it was unclear on what the consequences of the disease would be- but I did love the scene with the babies.
What are you currently reading?
Freedom Song by Amit Chaudhuri. Three novellas (short stories? long stories?) set in India.
Death Without Company by Craig Johnson. The second in the Longmire mystery series, set in modern-day rural Wyoming. Which, I learned in the first few pages, is apparently the least populous state in the US! I definitely would have guessed Alaska or one of the Dakotas.
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no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 08:34 pm (UTC)immunity is the last book where everything actually interesting and/or important happens with actual stakes, other than this one spoilery bit you'll recognize when you'll see. the rest is, like, fic of fic and cameos.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 08:55 pm (UTC)Well, there's only... two? three? books left! So that's not too much uninteresting writing.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 11:23 pm (UTC)Oh, interesting! I did not know that... Given the awesomeness of PoS, I cannot complain on balance :)
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 08:54 pm (UTC)[didja read the Winter something short story? After A Civil Campaign? Now THAT lived up to my romantic feels.]
ALSO. YOU ARE COMING NEAR THE END OF THE SERIES. That means that fic recs will soon be upon you! :D
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 09:02 pm (UTC)I did! It was also fantastic. I loved Taura in Barrayan women's fashions, and the gradual Taura/Roic romance, and the dramatic near-death pearls! (And the living cat blanket! Though, uh, I really hope Eli sent them a new one rather than reusing the original.) The winter-outdoor wedding was a neat idea, too. And Taura's grey hair! Heartbreak.
Fic! :D
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 11:21 pm (UTC)I second the Chalion recs, especially Paladin of Souls (although I do love Vorkosiverse more).
no subject
Date: 2014-01-31 01:03 am (UTC)Thanks! It's on my to-read list.