Reading Wednesday
Jul. 2nd, 2014 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
Blood Maidens by Barbara Hambly. James Asher (former spy, current linguistics professor), his wife Lydia (lady doctor/heiress) and their vampire buddy Don Simon Ysidro (Spanish nobleman from the 1500s) once again try to stop various European governments from finding out about and/or teaming up with vampires in the build-up to WWI, this time in Russia (with some detours to Berlin, Prague, and other nearby cities). Lydia is dealing with depression after having a miscarriage, as well as with her own feelings for Ysidro; Ysidro is possibly way more concerned with finding out what happened to a vampire friend of his than with any government alliances; James mostly wants not to be recognized and arrested by German agents. Also, there's a vampire who may be able to walk in the daylight, slum children are disappearing, and St Petersburg's high society is obsessed with Spiritualism and similar supernatural fads.
I think this is my favorite of the James Asher books so far. I really loved the descriptions of the setting, and the dramatic final climax was great (secret poisonings! vampires who don't know that they're vampires! people being dropped down wells! hostages! silver bullets! burnings!). I also thought the "governments allying with vampires!" was a much stronger parallel to "James and Lydia being friends with vampires!" than it had been previously; I really liked the serious consideration of if they had an ethical obligation to kill Ysidro (who is, despite helping them, still eating people).
The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan. A novel about a rural Brahmin family in South India, from 1900 to the mid-1950s. Though it's very clearly a novel about the family rather than any individual character, there is a focus on Sivikami, a new bride in the family who's widowed while still in her teens; her son, Vairum, an intelligent boy who feels estranged from their village and resents the loss of his father; and Janaki, Vairum's niece, a bright girl raised by her grandmother and who eventually marries into a family in Madras. Despite the time period, the Independence movement and eventual actual Independence are barely even mentioned, though the book is about themes of tradition vs modernity, and change over time. But the traditions are social ones, not political, the sorts of things that impact individuals' lives: how widows should behave, where and how long to educate girls, what type of food to eat, who can eat with whom, arranged marriages and dowries and horoscopes, music and radio and movies. There's a huge cast of characters, many of them very interesting; I particularly would have liked to read more about Muchami (Sivakami's low-caste servant, a gay man who nonetheless is married) and Bharati (Janaki's half-sister, daughter of a devidasi, who becomes an early movie star).
What are you currently reading?
The Immigrant by Manju Kapur. I am literally only four pages into this, so I'm not entirely sure what it's about yet. An Indian lady! Who will move to Canada, I think?
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Mate. Non-fiction by a doctor who works at safe injection sites and harm reduction clinics in Vancouver, that is, with people who have very few other options or safety networks. Someone recommended this to me, though I don't remember who - possibly one of you! - and it's really good so far.
Blood Maidens by Barbara Hambly. James Asher (former spy, current linguistics professor), his wife Lydia (lady doctor/heiress) and their vampire buddy Don Simon Ysidro (Spanish nobleman from the 1500s) once again try to stop various European governments from finding out about and/or teaming up with vampires in the build-up to WWI, this time in Russia (with some detours to Berlin, Prague, and other nearby cities). Lydia is dealing with depression after having a miscarriage, as well as with her own feelings for Ysidro; Ysidro is possibly way more concerned with finding out what happened to a vampire friend of his than with any government alliances; James mostly wants not to be recognized and arrested by German agents. Also, there's a vampire who may be able to walk in the daylight, slum children are disappearing, and St Petersburg's high society is obsessed with Spiritualism and similar supernatural fads.
I think this is my favorite of the James Asher books so far. I really loved the descriptions of the setting, and the dramatic final climax was great (secret poisonings! vampires who don't know that they're vampires! people being dropped down wells! hostages! silver bullets! burnings!). I also thought the "governments allying with vampires!" was a much stronger parallel to "James and Lydia being friends with vampires!" than it had been previously; I really liked the serious consideration of if they had an ethical obligation to kill Ysidro (who is, despite helping them, still eating people).
The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan. A novel about a rural Brahmin family in South India, from 1900 to the mid-1950s. Though it's very clearly a novel about the family rather than any individual character, there is a focus on Sivikami, a new bride in the family who's widowed while still in her teens; her son, Vairum, an intelligent boy who feels estranged from their village and resents the loss of his father; and Janaki, Vairum's niece, a bright girl raised by her grandmother and who eventually marries into a family in Madras. Despite the time period, the Independence movement and eventual actual Independence are barely even mentioned, though the book is about themes of tradition vs modernity, and change over time. But the traditions are social ones, not political, the sorts of things that impact individuals' lives: how widows should behave, where and how long to educate girls, what type of food to eat, who can eat with whom, arranged marriages and dowries and horoscopes, music and radio and movies. There's a huge cast of characters, many of them very interesting; I particularly would have liked to read more about Muchami (Sivakami's low-caste servant, a gay man who nonetheless is married) and Bharati (Janaki's half-sister, daughter of a devidasi, who becomes an early movie star).
What are you currently reading?
The Immigrant by Manju Kapur. I am literally only four pages into this, so I'm not entirely sure what it's about yet. An Indian lady! Who will move to Canada, I think?
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Mate. Non-fiction by a doctor who works at safe injection sites and harm reduction clinics in Vancouver, that is, with people who have very few other options or safety networks. Someone recommended this to me, though I don't remember who - possibly one of you! - and it's really good so far.
