Beth > Recent Status Updates

The current selection of a "bad book" club I belong to. It's fun, fast-moving, and silly--just what I'd hope for.

Adolescent Charlotte was a Lord Wellington fangirl??

The 3rd edition versions of V. I, Chapters IV and XIII were included as an appendix in my paperback. (The main text is the 1st edition.) Ch. IV has the same gist in its 1st and 3rd edition versions, by my reckoning, and I didn't perceive more than one or two minor differences between them. I suspect that there will be more noticeable and substantial differences between the two versions of Ch. XIII.

Surprised myself reading 60 pages of this in one day, when I've been struggling with sitting through 20 pages of fiction, even in audio form.

I have two Penguin editions of this book, edited by two different people: one from 1975, the other from 1997; one in paper, one in ebook. I've read the introductory material from one, and have started on the other's.

I'll likely read the main body in ebook, because the paperback is in rough shape and somewhat musty (though I've had worse).

I'm in butterfly mode and this is a change of pace from fiction. Elisabeth Jay's introduction makes the reader aware of Brontë's letters that Gaskell had available to her, and Gaskell's biases that came out in her depiction of her friend's life. (all writing of any worth has a bias, and it's good to know what that will amount to, going in to this one.)

Audios with adventurous female leads seem to be what my brain looks for while under stress. (it isn't all bad, don't worry, but it's adding up.) 90s Anita was the coolest girl on the block, in her day, but she's showing her age now. Not a bad thing.

My mind keeps taking the shortcut of picturing the manhwa characters as I read, which isn't necessarily bad.

The ebook didn't come available until 9pm my time, so I stayed up a little past my bedtime to start this book.

Penelope unlocking freeform speech (vs multiple-choice options) this early on is somewhat unbelievable, but also far superior to spending the whole series in a "choose your own adventure" format.

The manhwa based on this story is my favorite so far (among an admittedly limited pool), and I always like to check out the original version when available, even if it more strongly bears the marks of online serialization. Hang in there, Penelope!

From page to page I don't know if I'll laugh, feel furious, or want to cry.

This book's been on the SFFBC poll at least three times, maybe more, and it finally won. I have no idea why I've been more interested to read this than any of the dozens of nominees this last year or so, but I have a copy now, and I'm gonna read it. It better be good!

Reading a book--even one I really enjoyed--three times in six years is too much.* I might take another crack at it when Alecto is announced, depending on how far in the future that ends up being.

* This also happened with Hogfather, which was going to be an annual read until I started hating the idea of reading it yet again. No big surprise, then.

I'm convinced the hypocrisies of the "good" characters are seen by the narrative, though not very deeply or for very long. Much as in the first book, I'm not convinced they're so different from the "bad" ones, aside from that one side grins and teases 24/7, and the other doesn't.

It looks like I've been carrying this book around like a millstone for over two months without reading another page. After finally reading a couple more chapters, it's going decently.

At times this book is creepy as hell. The less often we hear about the Sunrunners' sexual initiation ceremony, the better, imo, but it keeps coming up again and again.

I read some pages of a book that wasn't a manga! No need to break out the marching band just yet.

This line in "Strigoi" was striking: "It is hard enough just being alive. You have to have a little faith."

The current "driving around" audiobook with my partner. The story and Moira Quirk's narration are lots of fun. Both of us think Akeldama's lisp is stereotypical and goes too far, and we like Emily Gray's version of him better.

As usual, I can't be bothered to remember anyone more than a single degree of separation from the MC, and when I come across them again, I scold myself for being such a lazy reader. I skimmed through the book so far and wrote up my own dramatis personae. A few minutes' effort is worth it to enable future laziness. :D

Trying to wrap my brain around the idea of a being that has no nervous system, brain, functioning sex organs, etc., that's also able to come to *rgasm.

I like how the political situation in the larger world, and the world-building, are introduced over the course of the characters' journey. Velsa's an unsettling character, and I suspect she's intended to be. I'll get into that more in my review.

I suspect this would be going much, much faster if I were reading this with my eyes. I'd be able to skim through the school assignments and listicles. Anne Hathaway's narration makes the rest of it worth a listen. :)

A free book from an author I'm following on YouTube. I wish I wasn't in butterfly reading mode again, but eventually something will stick...

Goofy creature horror, can't be taken seriously at all. I think the "bad books" podcast who selected it will have fun riffing on it.

It takes me half a dozen books to figure out what I actually want to read (it happens, sometimes), and light on a 550-page UF that's over 20 years old. Okay, brain, I trust you. I enjoyed the first couple Armstrongs I've read, and am expecting a similarly quick-moving and thoughtful read.

I give up. I can't stand this narration and feel like it's ruining a perfectly decent book, so I've returned the audiobook. I'll continue it as an eye-read once I've gotten hold of a copy.

I'm very rarely a mystery reader. The manga of this story didn't catch my attention until the "garden party" episode, and I expect this novel will have a similar arc. I'm also hoping that some of the characters besides Maomao and Jinshi will pop a bit more, and that we'll see some fun court intrigue.