Another Lax Wednesday Reading. . .
Jul. 18th, 2018 09:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
evelyn_b. . . because I'm on vacation until August 1 (approximately) and have very little internet access.
What I've Finished Reading
I do not like Hamish Macbeth. More accurately, I was not inspired to any feelings about Hamish Macbeth that were distinct from my feelings about the quality of M. C. Beaton's writing. He's a village bobby who is always shocking people and getting away with it in unconvincing ways, and being antagonistic with the higher-ups who don't know what they're doing etc.. Death of a Cad passed the time reasonably well while I was on a train, so it served its purpose. The killer is telegraphed from Page One and continues to be telegraphed repeatedly throughout. The one advantage it has over Lynley and Co. is that the author knows it's a silly murder romp and isn't trying to nag you into taking it seriously by throwing in a lot of grisly true-crime details and nervous breakdowns - and it's short.
I want to say more, eventually, about The Dollmaker. It's easy to make fun of the misery and the very on-the-nose symbolism (in which, for example, a child dies horribly because she's severed from the life of the imagination. . . and also her legs) but the more I think about it the more I think it's a very good book, or maybe a very interesting book that is good.
What I'm Reading Now
The Maltese Falcon, in a foreign language I'm trying to learn. Hammett is easy to follow when you're not quite literate, in part because his characters are constantly smiling in various ways, lowering their heads, and doing things with their hats. Everyone's eyes get described in great detail at every opportunity, and this repetition is also helpful.
And in English: The Common, issue no. 15 - a very well-made literary journal with good margins and typeface and a pleasant poetry-to-prose ratio.
I brought a Kindle on this trip in an attempt to give the Kindle an honest try, but I haven't looked at it once. Or rather, I looked at it once and was immediately discouraged by everything about it. There's still time, I guess. Unfortunately, it's a borrowed Kindle, so I have to lug it all the way back home instead of leaving it with the free library in the hostel like I did with Death of a Cad.
What I Plan to Read Next
I didn't get to A Game of Thrones on the plane here & have been saving it for the journey back. Eventually it'll be the only book I have left! Then I'll have to read either that or the Kindle. Or buy another book. We'll see!
What I've Finished Reading
Hamish took a step back. Then, with a flying leap, he vaulted the bar and, ignoring the barman's cries of outrage, proceeded to pour two Campari and sodas.
“I'll call the police,” shrieked the barman.
"I am the police,” said Hamish.
I do not like Hamish Macbeth. More accurately, I was not inspired to any feelings about Hamish Macbeth that were distinct from my feelings about the quality of M. C. Beaton's writing. He's a village bobby who is always shocking people and getting away with it in unconvincing ways, and being antagonistic with the higher-ups who don't know what they're doing etc.. Death of a Cad passed the time reasonably well while I was on a train, so it served its purpose. The killer is telegraphed from Page One and continues to be telegraphed repeatedly throughout. The one advantage it has over Lynley and Co. is that the author knows it's a silly murder romp and isn't trying to nag you into taking it seriously by throwing in a lot of grisly true-crime details and nervous breakdowns - and it's short.
I want to say more, eventually, about The Dollmaker. It's easy to make fun of the misery and the very on-the-nose symbolism (in which, for example, a child dies horribly because she's severed from the life of the imagination. . . and also her legs) but the more I think about it the more I think it's a very good book, or maybe a very interesting book that is good.
What I'm Reading Now
The Maltese Falcon, in a foreign language I'm trying to learn. Hammett is easy to follow when you're not quite literate, in part because his characters are constantly smiling in various ways, lowering their heads, and doing things with their hats. Everyone's eyes get described in great detail at every opportunity, and this repetition is also helpful.
And in English: The Common, issue no. 15 - a very well-made literary journal with good margins and typeface and a pleasant poetry-to-prose ratio.
I brought a Kindle on this trip in an attempt to give the Kindle an honest try, but I haven't looked at it once. Or rather, I looked at it once and was immediately discouraged by everything about it. There's still time, I guess. Unfortunately, it's a borrowed Kindle, so I have to lug it all the way back home instead of leaving it with the free library in the hostel like I did with Death of a Cad.
What I Plan to Read Next
I didn't get to A Game of Thrones on the plane here & have been saving it for the journey back. Eventually it'll be the only book I have left! Then I'll have to read either that or the Kindle. Or buy another book. We'll see!
no subject
Date: 2018-07-18 02:01 pm (UTC)You could get AGOT on kindle: it'd be easier to carry;P
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 10:03 pm (UTC)I could! But I didn't. I made some strides with the Kindle, enough to read a few chapters of Thucydides when I ran out of paper books - but I'm glad to be back home in my dead-tree forest.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-01 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-18 05:15 pm (UTC)Poor neglected Kindle! It's got so many books on it, it wants to please, and nope. Alas.
The one advantage it has over Lynley and Co. is that the author knows it's a silly murder romp and isn't trying to nag you into taking it seriously
Yes, indeed. I haven't time for her crime, because I can get way better crime stories that are also easy to read, but when it comes to Regencies, I appreciate her compared to many of the rest, because at least they're making no pretence to be anything other than nonsense.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-31 10:09 pm (UTC)(I can remember being VERY excited about the Kindle when it first came out, and then sort of forgetting about it for a while, and then finally trying it and realizing with a sinking feeling that it just wasn't going to work out between us).
There's definitely something to be said for cheerful self-awareness! I'm still determined to read at least one Agatha Raisin, and The One With the House.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-01 07:12 am (UTC)You are the pluckiest reader! (With or without a kindle.)