Reading Wednesday
Aug. 26th, 2015 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhA two-week issue of Reading Wednesday, since I was away at the beach last week (whooo! :D ) and didn't get around to doing this.
What did you just finish?
Darjeeling: The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World's Greatest Tea by Jeff Koehler. A book covering pretty much everything you could want to know regarding tea, and specifically that grown in the Darjeeling region of India (which is the most expensive and most highly regarded black tea). Topics include the original discovery/invention of tea, the importation of tea plants from China to India during and after the Opium Wars, the establishment of tea plantations in Darjeeling, how tea is grown and processed and evaluated and sold today, how to distinguish between the different "flushes" of Darjeeling tea, and the future of tea (with problems such as climate change, competition from tea grown in Africa, and the decision to switch to new styles of farming like organic or biodynamic). I liked the modern-day sections better, although that might be simply because I already knew most of the history – and if you're at all familiar with, say, the Opium Wars, a short chapter summarizing the entire complex situation isn't going to add anything new. I did catch a few small errors in the history sections (for instance, Koehler claims that spices were so popular in medieval Europe because they were used "to cover the taste of spoiling meats", which is not a thing that happened, no matter how many people repeat the myth), but nothing major. He even includes tea recipes at the end of the book! They range from ones that include tea in the cooking process (such as tea-smoked chicken) to ones that are just good to eat with tea (like scones and clotted cream).
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund. I decided to read this book because A) I'd had a copy on my bookshelf for ages and needed to read it so I could get rid of it, and B) I was going to be on a beach! Books about whalers are beach books, right? Friends, this was a terrible choice. This book was awful, and I definitely should have stopped well before I read all 660 pages. Una, the main character, manages to meet many of the well-known historical and fictional figures of the 1830s to 50s, nearly all of whom fall in love with her and are anxious to tell her how awesome and important she is. Not only does she marry Captain Ahab (here's one of their first meetings: He read my gaze, and he looked down. “Ye cause me to look away,” he muttered. “Is it possible that ye, a mere girl, have seen as deep as Ahab?” YUP, NOTHING LIKE HAVING CLASSICAL CHARACTERS DIRECTLY TELL YOUR NEW CREATION HOW COOL SHE IS!), but she ends up marrying Ishmael too! All of whose dialogue, by the way, is lifted word-for-word from Moby Dick, I guess because Naslund knew she couldn't compete. Other people who admire Una include Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne (who asks for her advice on writing! Because of course he does), Maria Mitchell (an important early astronomer who discovered a new comet; of course Una was there on the night of the discovery), Margaret Fuller (an advocate of women's rights who writes Una letters about how important she's been to Fullers' thinking), Henry James, and probably many more that I don't know enough history to recognize. Not that being fictional makes you immune from having to circle around the great glowing orb that is Una. The one I found most annoying was Sarah, a runaway slave who, despite their having met briefly once, is brought up again and again by Una as a sort of symbol of freedom and oppression and to represent how much better Una is than all these other people, because you know, she doesn't agree with slavery. Of course, Una spends most of her life in possession of a huge fortune and influence, but she doesn't use it to find or help Sarah, even after she learns that Sarah has been re-enslaved. Because it's more noble for Una to stare at the stars and feel sad about it, I guess. Ugh. What an annoying book.
True Pretenses by Rose Lerner. OMG THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. A Regency romance starring Lydia Reeve, an upper-class woman in her thirties who has spent her life being her father's political hostess; unfortunately, her father has just died and she can't continue her political and patronage activities without access to her money, which she can only get by marrying. Into town comes Asher Cohen aka Ash Cahill, a Jewish conman from the slums of London passing as a middle-class Christian from Cornwall. After a bit of flirting and dancing around the issue, they come clean to one another, and agree to enter into a temporary marriage of convenience. Which leads to one of the BEST FAKE-DATING STORIES I HAVE EVER READ. There's so much tension from the two of them pretending to be in love in front of friends and family while secretly feeling a growing attraction while also refusing to admit their true feelings because they have a deal! It's wonderful and compelling and heart-breaking. The book also covers class differences (as you might imagine, Ash has a vastly different perspective on Lydia's charity work than she does herself, particularly as it regards the workhouse) and family drama (both Ash and Lydia have a younger brother who they were responsible for raising and with whom they have a very difficult but close relationship). There are discussions about lies and secrets, tragic self-sacrifice, gay characters, dungeons, sex in a carriage... basically everything I want out of a romance. Highly recommended!
What are you currently reading?
The Terror by Dan Simmons. Man-eating giant polar bears at the North Pole!
What did you just finish?
Darjeeling: The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World's Greatest Tea by Jeff Koehler. A book covering pretty much everything you could want to know regarding tea, and specifically that grown in the Darjeeling region of India (which is the most expensive and most highly regarded black tea). Topics include the original discovery/invention of tea, the importation of tea plants from China to India during and after the Opium Wars, the establishment of tea plantations in Darjeeling, how tea is grown and processed and evaluated and sold today, how to distinguish between the different "flushes" of Darjeeling tea, and the future of tea (with problems such as climate change, competition from tea grown in Africa, and the decision to switch to new styles of farming like organic or biodynamic). I liked the modern-day sections better, although that might be simply because I already knew most of the history – and if you're at all familiar with, say, the Opium Wars, a short chapter summarizing the entire complex situation isn't going to add anything new. I did catch a few small errors in the history sections (for instance, Koehler claims that spices were so popular in medieval Europe because they were used "to cover the taste of spoiling meats", which is not a thing that happened, no matter how many people repeat the myth), but nothing major. He even includes tea recipes at the end of the book! They range from ones that include tea in the cooking process (such as tea-smoked chicken) to ones that are just good to eat with tea (like scones and clotted cream).
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund. I decided to read this book because A) I'd had a copy on my bookshelf for ages and needed to read it so I could get rid of it, and B) I was going to be on a beach! Books about whalers are beach books, right? Friends, this was a terrible choice. This book was awful, and I definitely should have stopped well before I read all 660 pages. Una, the main character, manages to meet many of the well-known historical and fictional figures of the 1830s to 50s, nearly all of whom fall in love with her and are anxious to tell her how awesome and important she is. Not only does she marry Captain Ahab (here's one of their first meetings: He read my gaze, and he looked down. “Ye cause me to look away,” he muttered. “Is it possible that ye, a mere girl, have seen as deep as Ahab?” YUP, NOTHING LIKE HAVING CLASSICAL CHARACTERS DIRECTLY TELL YOUR NEW CREATION HOW COOL SHE IS!), but she ends up marrying Ishmael too! All of whose dialogue, by the way, is lifted word-for-word from Moby Dick, I guess because Naslund knew she couldn't compete. Other people who admire Una include Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne (who asks for her advice on writing! Because of course he does), Maria Mitchell (an important early astronomer who discovered a new comet; of course Una was there on the night of the discovery), Margaret Fuller (an advocate of women's rights who writes Una letters about how important she's been to Fullers' thinking), Henry James, and probably many more that I don't know enough history to recognize. Not that being fictional makes you immune from having to circle around the great glowing orb that is Una. The one I found most annoying was Sarah, a runaway slave who, despite their having met briefly once, is brought up again and again by Una as a sort of symbol of freedom and oppression and to represent how much better Una is than all these other people, because you know, she doesn't agree with slavery. Of course, Una spends most of her life in possession of a huge fortune and influence, but she doesn't use it to find or help Sarah, even after she learns that Sarah has been re-enslaved. Because it's more noble for Una to stare at the stars and feel sad about it, I guess. Ugh. What an annoying book.
True Pretenses by Rose Lerner. OMG THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. A Regency romance starring Lydia Reeve, an upper-class woman in her thirties who has spent her life being her father's political hostess; unfortunately, her father has just died and she can't continue her political and patronage activities without access to her money, which she can only get by marrying. Into town comes Asher Cohen aka Ash Cahill, a Jewish conman from the slums of London passing as a middle-class Christian from Cornwall. After a bit of flirting and dancing around the issue, they come clean to one another, and agree to enter into a temporary marriage of convenience. Which leads to one of the BEST FAKE-DATING STORIES I HAVE EVER READ. There's so much tension from the two of them pretending to be in love in front of friends and family while secretly feeling a growing attraction while also refusing to admit their true feelings because they have a deal! It's wonderful and compelling and heart-breaking. The book also covers class differences (as you might imagine, Ash has a vastly different perspective on Lydia's charity work than she does herself, particularly as it regards the workhouse) and family drama (both Ash and Lydia have a younger brother who they were responsible for raising and with whom they have a very difficult but close relationship). There are discussions about lies and secrets, tragic self-sacrifice, gay characters, dungeons, sex in a carriage... basically everything I want out of a romance. Highly recommended!
What are you currently reading?
The Terror by Dan Simmons. Man-eating giant polar bears at the North Pole!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-08-26 09:55 pm (UTC)whaaaaaaaaaaaaat
no subject
Date: 2015-08-27 05:07 pm (UTC)There was also this bit, where clearly Una has taken the same high school American Literature class that I did:
“But who was Ishmael, anyway?” I asked. “In the Bible?”
“An outcast. Somebody who lived on the edge of things.”
I glanced at her. “As I do.”
Just in case you didn't notice the symbolism!
no subject
Date: 2015-08-31 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-26 11:05 pm (UTC)You make this one sound so good. Think I will take that recommendation.
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund.
O-M-G!! So funny. Thanks for the warning! I am one of those people who tend to finish the books they pick up.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-27 05:09 pm (UTC)I am one of those people who tend to finish the books they pick up.
Me too! I always feel obligated to read to the end, once I've started.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-26 11:53 pm (UTC)AHAHAHAHA I love it. Why would anyone write this book? I LOVE IT ALREADY. Except I probably don't. It can't possibly live up to my hilarious mental picture of it. . . or can it?
Nathaniel Hawthorne (who asks for her advice on writing! Because of course he does)
OF COURSE.
Margaret Fuller (an advocate of women's rights who writes Una letters about how important she's been to Fullers' thinking)
How could she not be a catalyst for Margaret Fuller? She has seen as deep as Ahab. . . but nicer! And smarter! And probably prettier!
I've seen Ahab's Wife in bookstores for years and never suspected it was such a Sue-fest. I just assumed it was a normal midlist historical novel with a tenuous literary connection. Reading it might not be the best use of my time, but I'm tempted to try?
True Pretenses sounds actually good and would probably be a better use of my time, but I am distracted by this shiny, ridiculous object you have described. It'll pass, probably.
Also, OH GOD, not the spoiling meat thing again! Make it stop! >:|
no subject
Date: 2015-08-27 05:36 pm (UTC)But here, have some more of Ahab being marveled by Una's presence!:
I walked to him, placed my hand on his shoulder, and said, “Look ye behind, Ahab.”
First his hand covered mine, his hard-as-stone hand roofed mine. Slowly he lifted his head but did still gaze upon the burning town. Then, still on his knees, he turned his head and looked up, all disbelief and wonder.
He said in a broken voice, “Art thou angel or devil?”
“Some of both. Even as you are.”
“Even as I.” He rose to his feet. “Ye have spoken truly. Thou art as I am, though we be female and male.”
no subject
Date: 2015-08-27 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-27 05:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-27 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-27 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-27 10:18 pm (UTC)Ahab's Wife sounds like the Mary-Sue-est Canon Sue I have ever heard about. Wow, that is actually really impressive.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-28 12:33 am (UTC)And Ahab's Wife was totally a Mary Sue. I seem to be having a bit of bad luck with stumbling into those lately, since the last historical fiction book I read had one too!
no subject
Date: 2015-08-28 04:03 am (UTC)Ahab's Wife, on the other hand, does not sound like my type of book. Is it anyone's type of book? Probably not.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-29 06:17 pm (UTC)Definitely not! You know, I seem to find way more terrible, terrible books when I read 'literary fiction' than when I read 'genre', which always makes me laugh, given their reputations.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-31 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-04 09:51 pm (UTC)By the way, have you heard about this 'In the Heart of the Sea' movie coming out? It's about the 'true story' that Moby Dick is based on, and I'm super excited for it.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-05 12:43 am (UTC)Yes! It does sound like it could be pretty interesting.