Reading Books For Pleasure

[twister947]

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
She was prolific and well thought of. When it came on sale I thought I'd give it a go. 200 pages in, I'm throwing in the towel. An acquired taste, I'm afraid.

 

[IrisAlthea]

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
She was prolific and well thought of. When it came on sale I thought I'd give it a go. 200 pages in, I'm throwing in the towel. An acquired taste, I'm afraid.

I read Delta Wedding as a teen, probably hoping for more Gone with the Wind feeling.
I had to bully and force myself through it, because I had a thing about not giving up on books back then.

I’ve thought at times I should get back to her, but never have.

I had the same issue with Caldwell and God’s Little Acre, I could see that the writing was great and even enjoy the language but somehow the stories annoyed me, perhaps even made me angry.

 

[seela]

Also I thought about reading projects. My project for 2024 is that I’ll read books in languages that I don’t usually read as much in. So basically languages other than Finnish, Swedish and English. Feels like a good project, not too strict.

I already forgot that I had come up with this project. But even without this project in mind, I’ve already read more in other languages than those three listed above than I read last year, so well done me, by accident.

I went to Spain and bought books about the Basque language and people/culture and I’ve read them. I also read a book in Polish that was okay but not the greatest.

I’m currently reading book #3 in the Perveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey and I’m enjoying it thoroughly. I’ll probably finish it today.

 

[seela]

I had the same issue with Caldwell and God’s Little Acre, I could see that the writing was great and even enjoy the language but somehow the stories annoyed me, perhaps even made me angry.

This is always interesting! Sometimes I have more patience and actually finish a book that annoys or angers me and sometimes I just drop it. But I find it interesting to think about what made me react the way I did. It’s not always easy to pinpoint. Sometimes it’s just a book read at the wrong time rather than the book or something about the story or writing itself.

 

[IrisAlthea]

This is always interesting! Sometimes I have more patience and actually finish a book that annoys or angers me and sometimes I just drop it. But I find it interesting to think about what made me react the way I did. It’s not always easy to pinpoint. Sometimes it’s just a book read at the wrong time rather than the book or something about the story or writing itself.

Yes and sometimes you just have to push through a hard part.
I’m currently reading The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.
I started a couple of months ago and had a really hard time with the first part that is set during the Cultural Revolution. I decided to give it one more shot and powered through and now I really like it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Read lately:

Travis Baldree's "Legends and Lattes". A barbarian abandons adventuring to pursue her life's ambition: opening a café in the big city. Nothing life-changing but a good comfort read.

T. Kingfisher's "What Moves The Dead" and "What Feasts At Night". Two novellas; the first one is a retelling of "The Fall of the House of Usher". Both fun horror tales that don't outwear their welcome, with fun characters. The protagonist is a "sworn soldier" from a small country where "soldier" is effectively its own gender, presumably based on some similar customs in Albania and elsewhere; that was an interesting angle to it.

 

[IrisAlthea]

The protagonist is a "sworn soldier" from a small country where "soldier" is effectively its own gender, presumably based on some similar customs in Albania and elsewhere; that was an interesting angle to it.

An Albanian girl I knew, told me about
”Albanian Virgins”.
It seems like a very helpful way around very strict rules for the women in that society.
Going to a nunnery, in comparison, would only make it possible to save yourself and usually wasn’t for the poor, but the Albanian Virgins could take the role of a man in the houshold and the world and provide for family.

 

[seela]

An Albanian girl I knew, told me about
”Albanian Virgins”.
It seems like a very helpful way around very strict rules for the women in that society.
Going to a nunnery, in comparison, would only make it possible to save yourself and usually wasn’t for the poor, but the Albanian Virgins could take the role of a man in the houshold and the world and provide for family.

I saw a documentary about this and other considered-non-traditional-but-actually-very-traditional gender roles. Interesting stuff.

 

[seela]

I read a book by one of my musical idols of my youth. The blurb said it’s “Twin Peaks meets Dollhouse” and yup, I very much agree with that description.

Rajamaa (borderland) by Terhi Kokkonen. It’s about a couple that gets into a car accident during their vacation in snowy Lapland and they end up spending a little extra time in a resort, on doctor’s orders. Not the best book I’ve read but I did enjoy it, a quick read.