evelyn_b

What I’ve Finished Reading

Making Money was ok! It relies heavily on two of my least favorite Pratchett running jokes/worldbuilding elements – the Igors and the Fool’s Guild – but when I say “least favorite,” I don’t mean I’m running around loathing them, just that if I had to rank all the things in Pratchett they’d end up near the bottom. I guessed Mr. Bent’s painful secret only a little ahead of the cast of characters, which was probably about when I was meant to. Moist is threatened with a blackmailer who knows all about his other life, but deals with it admirably; there are lots of cameos from our old friends on the Watch, a smattering of necromancy post-mortem communication, and a very brief appearance by my favorite minor character, C. M. O. T. Dibbler – who doesn’t actually do much here, and in fact doesn’t even offer to cut his own throat, but all the same a pleasure to see you, Throat. Same with our even older friend Death, who appears briefly. Not nearly as good as Wyrd Sisters or Feet of Clay but still enjoyable. I’ll have to find and read the earlier book about Moist von Lipwig, Going Postal.

I also finished a book called The Best of Judith Merril, a collection of sci-fi short stories (and two poems) from about 1940-1970. I thought some of the stories were interesting and some were a bit bad, but since the book fell apart in my hands while I was visiting family and I didn’t feel enough attachment to it to take it home in that state, I gave it to my sister to light the wood stove with.

What I’m Reading Now

I’ve been meaning to read My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell for a long time. I didn’t find My Family and Other Animals at the new used bookstore the other day, but I did find Birds, Beasts, and Relatives, which is a sequel and probably just as good. Gerald Durrell is the younger brother of Lawrence “Larry” Durrell, author of The Alexandria Quartet and one of my very favorite nemeses. As writers, they have in common a gift for extremely vivid sensory description bordering on the hallucinatory. Gerry’s adventures collecting animal specimens on his sunny Greek island are always good reading, though his depiction of the smell of turtle dissection, for example, was a little too real. The “relatives” side of things is a little less satisfactory. Gerry’s family members have about one trait each: Leslie likes to shoot things, Larry’s eccentric friends eat all the food, Margo has acne and is unhappy about it. Poor Margo gets the shortest end of this already short stick; even in her own chapter she is upstaged by everyone else. But that’s not necessarily much of a flaw; this is a light-hearted book about people and a lovingly detailed one about the natural life of Corfu, and it works pretty well most of the time.

Along with osprey_archer, I’ve also started reading The Three Musketeers! by Alexandre Dumas! I have to say, this one hasn’t grabbed me by the lapels, danced me around the living room, and flung my heart into the heaving ocean with as much dispatch as The Count of Monte Cristo - but this will be the last time I compare it to The Count of Monte Cristo, since that’s not a fair comparison for anyone.

( Some Musketeers )
I’m still having a hard time parsing the political situation, but I’m not sure how relevant it’s going to be yet. I might give up and just read a Wikipedia summary of the reign of Louis XIII or something - but maybe I'll just relax and enjoy these ridiculous murderbros enjoying their impossible youth.

What I Plan to Read Next

More catching up is ahead! Eventually I’m going to read Sign of the Unicorn by R. Zelazny. We’ll see what else.