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Books I've Read: Jan-Feb 2022
So...I'm way behind on writing book reviews. I posted a little thread over on Bluesky about some of the contributing factors. In any event, I'm more than 2 years behind on writing up my thoughts, and that means there are a bunch of books where I can only remember vague impressions at this point. More recently I've been jotting down notes when I finish things, with the intent of doing something more review-ish eventually. Sometimes I've written up an actual review, but then haven't posted it because I wanted to approach my backlog in a more systematic way. (Also because I feel more inspired to write long-form when a book doesn't work for me, and I didn't want to end up only posting negative reviews.)
So I've made a couple of decisions. I'm going to post reviews here on Dreamwidth rather than on my official author blog at alpennia.com. That will help create some emotion separation between my personal feelings about books and my activites promoting sapphic historical fiction in general.
And I may or may not distribute my reviews to commercial sites like Amazon and iBooks. Honestly the beaurocratic details of uploading reviews (especially uploading them to multiple sites) have been one of the hurdles that inspired me to keep putting off writing them.
So I'm going to work through my reading log (which I have kept up systematically) in a chronological fashion, and if I don't have much to say, I simply won't say much. Organizational date is the date of completion or date of DNF.
January 2022
The Jasmine Throne - Tasha Suri - audiobook
Loved it. Delightfully complex and atmospheric. I spent a lot of the book wondering if I'd been misled about the sapphic content, but then it was there and solid (and continues through the series) in a very satisfying way. If I were writing in a more timely manner, I'd have things to say about the worldbuilding, but you'll have to make do with impressions.
Magic for Liars - Sarah Gailey - audiobook
I think this was the magical murder mystery? Maybe? Sorry, it hasn't stuck with me.
She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan - audiobook
Quite a chunky audiobook! I think I would have struggled to finish if I were reading in print. I enjoyed the characterization and the intricate politics and the sharp-edged personalities. But I'm not sure it grabbed me enough to pull me into continuing the series.
February 2022
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower - Erica Ridley - print
Sapphic historic romance, I think Regency? I came close to not finishing this. The narrative was more "talky" than I enjoy and rather repetitive, and there were serious flaws in the historic grounding. I'm currently poking at an essay about what types of historic flaws throw me out and what types I'm willing to forgive. Or rather, when I'm willing to forgive them for other reasons. But this one felt rather "modern people in fancy dress" in terms of behavior and the writing didn't grab me enough to make up for that.
The Odyssey - Homer (translated: Emily Wilson) - audio
Oh my this was lovely! Though I think the translator's introduction, with all of its discussion of word-choice and nuance and style was more than half my enjoyment of this edition. If you want a solid grounding in how to understand the Odyssey, go for Wilson's version.
"Of Charms, Ghosts, and Grievances" - Aliette de Bodard - print
A short piece set in her Dominion of the Fallen universe. If I recall correctly, this is the one where her "murder-husbands" have to solve a murder mystery while being attacked by the vengeful ghost and simultaneously baby-sitting a couple of demon children. That description might sound like comedy, which it isn't, but it's a bit lighter than the full novels tend to be.
That's it for Jan-Feb 2022. Stay tuned for the next installment when I have a few minutes! You may notice a high proportion of audio. The simple fact is that I have places in my life where audiobooks fit easily, and fewer places in my life where I mange to fit in reading print. I always have several going at once, usual one audiobook, one ebook, one hard copy fiction, and at least one hard copy non-fiction. Tracking by format helps keep the narratives distinct in my head. There's a failure mode where, if I switch from one ebook to a different ebook, it generally means the first ebook is DNF. I rarely end up going back. (Though I sometimes switch to the audio of that first book. Oddly enough.)
So I've made a couple of decisions. I'm going to post reviews here on Dreamwidth rather than on my official author blog at alpennia.com. That will help create some emotion separation between my personal feelings about books and my activites promoting sapphic historical fiction in general.
And I may or may not distribute my reviews to commercial sites like Amazon and iBooks. Honestly the beaurocratic details of uploading reviews (especially uploading them to multiple sites) have been one of the hurdles that inspired me to keep putting off writing them.
So I'm going to work through my reading log (which I have kept up systematically) in a chronological fashion, and if I don't have much to say, I simply won't say much. Organizational date is the date of completion or date of DNF.
January 2022
The Jasmine Throne - Tasha Suri - audiobook
Loved it. Delightfully complex and atmospheric. I spent a lot of the book wondering if I'd been misled about the sapphic content, but then it was there and solid (and continues through the series) in a very satisfying way. If I were writing in a more timely manner, I'd have things to say about the worldbuilding, but you'll have to make do with impressions.
Magic for Liars - Sarah Gailey - audiobook
I think this was the magical murder mystery? Maybe? Sorry, it hasn't stuck with me.
She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan - audiobook
Quite a chunky audiobook! I think I would have struggled to finish if I were reading in print. I enjoyed the characterization and the intricate politics and the sharp-edged personalities. But I'm not sure it grabbed me enough to pull me into continuing the series.
February 2022
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower - Erica Ridley - print
Sapphic historic romance, I think Regency? I came close to not finishing this. The narrative was more "talky" than I enjoy and rather repetitive, and there were serious flaws in the historic grounding. I'm currently poking at an essay about what types of historic flaws throw me out and what types I'm willing to forgive. Or rather, when I'm willing to forgive them for other reasons. But this one felt rather "modern people in fancy dress" in terms of behavior and the writing didn't grab me enough to make up for that.
The Odyssey - Homer (translated: Emily Wilson) - audio
Oh my this was lovely! Though I think the translator's introduction, with all of its discussion of word-choice and nuance and style was more than half my enjoyment of this edition. If you want a solid grounding in how to understand the Odyssey, go for Wilson's version.
"Of Charms, Ghosts, and Grievances" - Aliette de Bodard - print
A short piece set in her Dominion of the Fallen universe. If I recall correctly, this is the one where her "murder-husbands" have to solve a murder mystery while being attacked by the vengeful ghost and simultaneously baby-sitting a couple of demon children. That description might sound like comedy, which it isn't, but it's a bit lighter than the full novels tend to be.
That's it for Jan-Feb 2022. Stay tuned for the next installment when I have a few minutes! You may notice a high proportion of audio. The simple fact is that I have places in my life where audiobooks fit easily, and fewer places in my life where I mange to fit in reading print. I always have several going at once, usual one audiobook, one ebook, one hard copy fiction, and at least one hard copy non-fiction. Tracking by format helps keep the narratives distinct in my head. There's a failure mode where, if I switch from one ebook to a different ebook, it generally means the first ebook is DNF. I rarely end up going back. (Though I sometimes switch to the audio of that first book. Oddly enough.)
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