darchildre: the master reading war of the worlds (reading)
2021-08-06 09:59 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Things:

- My tablet apparently decided to die completely and irretrievably today. Not the end of the world - I am fortunately able to replace it - but I mostly read on my tablet these days and the two books I'm in the middle of are indeed both ebooks. And yes, I do have other ways to read ebooks but they are all irritating.

( - Yes, okay, the most priviledged of problems. I know.)

- Also, someone on tumblr today reblogged a post of mine from 2018, when I was reading the Black Company books. Which reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading those and how I never actually read all of them and maybe I should start the series over again but, of course, my copies are all ebooks.

- If my hold on She Who Became the Sun comes in before I can replace my tablet (the hold is, of course, on the ebook copy), I am going to have to break something.
darchildre: green ultra magnified bacteria.  text:  "their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold." (what man knows kadath?)
2021-02-28 02:51 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Going through my bookshelves, I am discovering just how many times I have purchased redundant Lovecraft stories.

One expects to pay for say, "Call of Cthulhu" or "Shadow Over Innsmouth" more than once in the course of buying various collections, but I resent the fact that I have paid money for "The Horror at Red Hook" or "The Outsider" more than once.
darchildre: children reading books in a field. (books are for adventure!)
2021-01-25 08:57 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I have been working at the library for 15 years and reading for significantly longer and still, every time I see one of those children's books that has a title like Everything You Need to Know About Bugs, my first reaction is always to think, "I feel certain that your book does not contain everything that I need to know about bugs."
darchildre: seventh doctor and ace, moody and muted (ghostlight)
2021-01-02 06:59 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I just finished reading Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. About which two things:

1) Y'know how sometimes you finish reading a book you loved and are immediately seized with the very particular sadness of knowing you can never read it for the first time again? That's where I am right now. After being at least vaguely disappointed by basically every horror novel I read in 2020, it's wonderful to start out this year with a book that was exactly everything I wanted it to be. I need to buy myself a copy.

2) I find the discussion questions for book groups that are occasionally included in books irritating at the best of times, as I feel compelled to read them and they're nearly always bad but there is something especially infuriating at getting to the end of a perfect beautiful ghost story to find that one of the discussion questions is "was the haunting real?" That's just - it's the least interesting or important way to talk about a ghost story, please stop.
darchildre: a crow being held in one hand.  text:  "bird in hand" (bird in the hand)
2020-09-15 10:45 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

The library closed early on Friday afternoon due to air quality issues* and has remained closed since, so I have not been at work for the past few days. Here is what I have been doing instead:

- I finished a sweater! ExpandHere is a picture of it! ) This is the second sweater I've made using this pattern and if you have always wanted to knit a sweater but have been intimidated by the process, I highly recommend it. The pattern is well-written and easy to follow (it's part of collection aimed at people learning to knit), it makes a nice basic everyday sweater, it comes in a million sizes, and the pattern is free. The Flax Light pattern uses fingering weight yarn but there's also a worsted-weight version if you want a heavier sweater.

- I have almost finished watching The Untamed. Which I am technically watching twice at the same time, as I started watching it on my own, then convinced my sisters to join me on our weekly streaming night. We are on episode 17 in the shared watch-through, and I'm on 48 on my own. I am being very good and not spoiling them for things but I am excited to get to send them fanfiction when we're done. (Also, because they are much more spoiler-averse than I am, I get to have the vicarious experience of them getting reveals when they're supposed to rather than, for example, knowing about the whole golden core thing the whole way through. It's exciting.)

- Yesterday I started playing Blaseball? I don't know, guys, they talked about it on Friends at the Table, I don't really know what's going on, but it's kinda fun. Anyway, go Tigers.

- I am trying to read Gemma Files' Hexslinger trilogy, but I have to read it with the Libby app (as that is the only format any of my libraries have it in) and, you guys, I am glad the Libby app exists and it's significantly better than the old Overdrive app in a lot of ways - I am happy to use it to manage my library ebooks and various library cards - but ye gods, I hate reading with it. The default font is bad to look at but if you choose a different one it destroys a book's formatting, and it won't rotate the text orientation if you read on a phone. Which isn't my preferred reading device, certainly, but the fact that it will rotate on a tablet but not a phone is absurd and infuriating. So I'm constantly frustrated with the reading experience, to the point that even though I'm really enjoying the books, I'm considering stopping in the middle of book two to wait for them to be rereleased for the kindle next month. It's a problem.





*Curbside service means having staff stationed outside the buildings all day which is Not Great what with all the smoke in our area.
darchildre: rebis in a purple trenchcoat, looking enigmatic (rebis says:)
2020-05-04 06:33 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I have run out of books I want to read, and am trying to find new ones.

The trouble with book recommending websites is that you put in a book you like, hoping to find another one like it, and the recommendations are given, of course, based on the subject material or writing style. Which makes sense! It's just that I often looking for a particular feel to the book, rather than a particular subject, and that is very difficult to search for.

When I say I want a book like The Goblin Emperor, for example, I don't mean that I want a book about a person thrust into a role they're unprepared for and forced to deal with complicated political intrigue. I mean that I want a book that feels like warm underground caverns and coats that are too heavy and tea brewed with unfamiliar but pleasant spices. Or, the last time I tried to find a new horror novel and realized that what I wanted was a book that felt the same as The Rim of Morning, all dark skies over the desert, and mirrors that showed only blackness, and vast cold emptiness. What it was about in order to feel like that was practically immaterial.

This is why I am almost always disappointed when I ask for horror recommendations in particular, because I can never quite put into words what exactly I want from horror and thus very rarely get it.

Anyway. This is even harder when the thing I want is a book that feels like a work of a different kind of media entirely. This week, I've been listening a lot to the Campaign: Skyjacks podcast and now really want books that feel like that, which is best summed up as "the way you feel when you listen to the Decemberists with the wind in your face as you walk along a rocky beach on a bright day in late autumn, only sometimes funny".

It is very difficult to google for books like that.
darchildre: the master reading war of the worlds (reading)
2020-04-09 06:50 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Today, I finished reading Sherlock Holmes and the Instrument of Death, the Holmes vs Caligari crossover novel. Which was sadly not great - too many chapters of Dr Caligari committing random motiveless crimes, not enough Holmes&Watson - though entertaining enough (or possibly I am bored enough) that I finished it.

The ending did make me think about the difference between semi-official published fanfic and what I think of as "proper" fanfic. Because a proper fanfic writer would have dealt so much more satisfyingly with the situation presented at the climax.

ExpandSpoilers, in case anyone else is interested in this very silly book. )
darchildre: the master reading war of the worlds (reading)
2020-03-06 11:26 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I am trying to decide what to read next and would like some help.

I have been between books for a bit and am being picky and indecisive. I have narrowed down what I think I want, genre-wise, to "ridiculous horror/mystery/pulp/Gothic nonsense" and have a few books that have been on my to-read list for a while, but I can't decide. Thus, a poll!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2


What should Sara read next?

View Answers

Ziska: the Problem of a Wicked Soul by Marie Corelli
0 (0.0%)

The Beetle by Richard Marsh
0 (0.0%)

The Blood of the Vampyre by Florence Marryat
0 (0.0%)

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
1 (50.0%)

Fantomas by Marcel Allain
1 (50.0%)

Something else that is similar which I will mention in comments
0 (0.0%)

darchildre: the master reading war of the worlds (reading)
2020-01-30 01:09 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I am thinking about starting a book group on Meetup, because there are no spec-fic book groups in my area*, and I would love to talk about nerdy books with other people. I cannot decide if this is a bad idea or not.

    Pros:
  • Get to talk about nerdy books with other people
  • Maybe make friends, I guess? In any case, more social interaction, which is probably a positive
  • Force myself to finish books, rather than get bored and stop halfway through
  • Exposure to books I would otherwise not have read
  • If I run the book group, I can declare from the outset that quiet handcrafts or other similar activities are acceptable during discussion

    Cons:
  • Talking to strangers, oh no
  • I have neither run nor really ever been a part of a book group before
  • Meetup groups cost money
  • If I run the book group, I have to do all the organizational tasks and I hate those and I'm already doing it for my D&D game



I'm going to give myself till Saturday and if I still want to do it, I'll set the group up then.





*The idea has occasionally been brought up as a library program, but the person in charge of book groups for the system has yet to go for it. She does not read spec-fic. I was part of a conversation with her about this once, during which she said that she didn't think the books in question would "provide enough scope for discussion" which, I mean, have you ever met a nerd? I personally could talk for an hour about individual twenty-minute episodes of The Magnus Archives - you don't think a group of nerds could talk about even a bad book for an hour?
darchildre: children reading books in a field. (books are for adventure!)
2020-01-22 05:12 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Friends, I have a book question. I would like to read some retellings of Arthurian legend. There are...a lot of those out there and I am overwhelmed. Tell me which ones are good?

- I am more interested in works that lean further towards the fantasy side, rather than works that are more "this is a retelling in which Arthur could have been a real historical person dealing with real historical problems". Magic swords and enchanters and Grail quests, yes please.

- I am not particularly interested in "King Arthur, but in modern day!" or "King Arthur has returned in the modern day!" or "Modern people interact with King Arthur!" kinds of stories. (I would possibly accept "King Arthur, but in space!" or "King Arthur, but in the Old West!" or things along those lines, but I would prefer more traditional settings.)

- Books I am already familiar with: The Once and Future King, Mists of Avalon, Gillian Bradshaw's Down the Long Wind trilogy, Mary Stewart's books.

Thank you!
darchildre: ninth doctor and rose viewing earth from space (...and i feel fine)
2019-12-31 10:18 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Things:

- My supervisor changed my start time today to two hours before I normally start on Tuesdays (when all of our start times are normally set in stone and also after I have been on vacation for the last week) and did not say anything to me about it or send me an email or anything. The first I heard about it was when I got a text message from my manager after I'd already been - unbeknownst to me - half an hour late. So I got to work an hour after I was scheduled but an hour before I would have normally started and I'm so stressed about everything right now.

Happier things:

- I spent my Christmas money from my grandmother on spinning fiber. Last year taught me that I can spin enough yarn to make a sweater in about half a year (less, if I spin more regularly) and I see no real reason why I should do so again this year. This time, it will be a cardigan.

- Also, I am currently knitting a big cabled fisherman's sweater in a soft grey natural wool and I'm so pleased with how it's coming out. It's slow knitting because of the cables but I'm enjoying it.

- I finished listening to the extant episodes of The Magnus Archives on Sunday, which means that now it's time to do the relisten-but-take-notes-this-time! To be finished before the new seasons starts in April. Good times.

- I'm rereading Always Coming Home by Ursula K LeGuin right now and you guys, this book is still so good.
darchildre: children reading books in a field. (books are for adventure!)
2019-12-02 11:18 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Friends, I haven't read anything in a month or so that I really enjoyed. Would you like to recommend me some books?

ExpandWhat I am interested in reading right now under here )
darchildre: the master reading war of the worlds (reading)
2019-09-23 02:35 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

While I have frustrations with the industry* and general reservations about amazon, I sincerely love ebooks (which are linked to amazon for me because most of mine are kindle books). I like how easy they are to use, I like that I can adjust the font to be whatever I need, I like that I can write notes without feeling guilty, I like that I can carry one device and have dozens to hundreds of books at my fingertips, I like that I never have to carry around a book version of the complete Sherlock Holmes every again.

However.

I am constantly frustrated by the fact that amazon seems to think that all readers want to start each kindle book on page one, rather than the cover. Every time I start a book, I have to page backwards to make sure I haven't missed something. Often, it's just the epigraph or dedication but for gods' sake, I am a fantasy reader! There might have been a list of characters or a map! Why would you think I didn't want to see the map?

It's very annoying.






*I work in a library, you guys.
darchildre: children reading books in a field. (books are for adventure!)
2019-08-21 03:04 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I need a new book*, as I have just finished the not-actually-properly-a-horror-novel I was reading** and I have been poking at my want-to-read list on Goodreads and finding nothing that really appeals. After a few minutes of this, I realized that the reason I can't find anything is that I want something that's like Frances Hardinge but also isn't Frances Hardinge because I've already read all the Frances Hardinge and I don't know anyone else, really, who writes books like hers.

It's a problem.








*I am still reading the WWI horror book but it is nonfiction and thus I need something fictional to balance it out.

**The Auctioneer by Joan Samson, which was good but did not turn out to be the kind of horror I thought it was. I had somehow gotten the impression that the devil was in it but alas, all the devils turned out to be metaphorical.
darchildre: the master reading war of the worlds (reading)
2019-06-25 08:37 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

So, I'm reading this book: Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which is the first in a series of epic fantasy novels about bug people that I found out about thanks to [personal profile] rachelmanija. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and enjoying it immensely, to the point that I've already put the second one on hold.

But! Y'know that thing, where you have a character type that nearly always works for you but that you're ever so slightly ashamed of? ExpandMild spoilers, but only really at the level of describing a couple of the characters. )
darchildre: the master reading war of the worlds (reading)
2019-06-18 06:48 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Today's favorite bit of The Inferno is the part where Dante and Virgil are being menaced by the Furies and Virgil physically turns Dante around and then puts his own hands over Dante's eyes because Dante is such a goober he can't be trusted not to look.

God, this poem is so goofy and weird and enjoyable when I don't have to write papers about it.
darchildre: the master reading war of the worlds (reading)
2019-06-17 02:00 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Yesterday, Because of Reasons*, I was seized with the urge to reread Dante's Commedia. Because it is summer and I have no attention span for actual reading, I have downloaded the audiobook of the Hollander translation of The Inferno.

While I am in no way ungrateful for the college course that introduced me to Dante - I would almost certainly never have gotten through his work, let alone developed an affection for it, without it - it is amazing how different it is to experience the poem on my own, instead of as a focus of academic study. Now, I get to read at my own pace and feel my own feelings about the text, instead of constantly having in the back of my mind the worry that I have to produce reactions that are intelligent and worth discussing and writing papers about. Reading on my own may not be as intellectually rigorous or whatever, but it's a much more pleasant and satisfying experience.

(Not that I would mind discussing the poem with people. It's just that, right now, my reactions are more on the level of "God, Ciacco in Canto VI is so sad!" and "Heh, Dante's petty grudge against Filippo Argenti is hilarious." I'm liveblogging a bit over on tumblr if you want that level of reaction.)

There are, alas, no audiobooks of the Hollander translations of Purgatorio or Paradiso. I understand why this is - I can't imagine there's anywhere near the level of demand - but I still feel a little bitter about it. Hopefully, by the time I get to the end of The Inferno, I will be over this bit of summer malaise and the momentum will carry into actually reading the rest.







*Good Omens = thinking about angels and demons = thinking about the structure of Heaven and Hell = thinking about the Commedia.
darchildre: children reading books in a field. (books are for adventure!)
2019-01-23 10:14 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Friends, can you point me towards some novels (ideally aimed at adults) with unicorns in them? Preferably unicorns who are actual characters and not just super rad horses?

I would very much appreciate it.
darchildre: the master reading war of the worlds (reading)
2019-01-16 02:03 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

As previously noted, I am currently reading Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle.

You guys, it was hard enough to put this book down after my lunch break and get back to work in the beginning, when it was just a story about a mercenary captain in medieval Europe with some weird not-our-world variations on Catholicism*.

But now! ExpandSpoilers! )

How am I supposed to concentrate on library stuff when I could be reading this book instead?





*I am hoping really hard that at some point, the book will give me more information on these variations because I am fascinated. Expandmild spoilers for things mentioned within the first chapter )