Kim @ Traveling in Books posted: " I had a bit of a vacation this past week. I didn't go anywhere, but having a break from work was nice. I slept in, I wrote a lot, I read a lot, played with Mina a lot, did a bit of book shopping, got hooked on a new TV show, and just generally relaxed. S" Traveling in Books
I had a bit of a vacation this past week. I didn't go anywhere, but having a break from work was nice. I slept in, I wrote a lot, I read a lot, played with Mina a lot, did a bit of book shopping, got hooked on a new TV show, and just generally relaxed. Sometimes, that's exactly what you need to do.
Obligatory Mina Photo:
As Mina is a cat, she spends a lot of her day napping. As I spent a lot of extra time at home this past week, Mina had to put up with me occasionally interrupting her naps. I feel a bit bad about disrupting her beauty sleep to give her pets and scritchies, but she is awfully cute when she's sleeping. She's cute all the time, but it's really hard to resist giving her belly rubs, even when she's napping.
What I Finished Reading Last Week:
The City of Brass (The Daevabad trilogy #1) by S.A. Chakraborty, audiobook narrated by Soneela Nankani
The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History by María Rosa Menocal
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, audiobook narrated by Gisela Chípe
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec, audiobook narrated by Nina Yndis
In TheCity of Brass, Nahri, a young con artist and healer's apprentice accidentally summons a magical being named Dara in the midst of a "rite" she's performing as part of a con job. She finds herself whisked off to a magical city of mystical beings that is on the verge of exploding due to racial tensions that have been building up for centuries. Unfortunately for Nahri, her arrival with Dara just might be the spark that sets the whole city off. I picked this book up because I enjoyed Chakraborty's recent release, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, and I found TheCity of Brass to be just as enjoyable. I liked Nahri's variety of clever snarkiness- which is not accompanied by the sort of snotty attitude that too many fantasy heroines are afflicted with these days- and resourcefulness. I like Dara for the most part, though he changes for understandable reasons partway through the story. It's a bit of an arrogant turn that I don't care for, but I understand his reasons. And I also like Ali, even though I don't care for his character archetype- the young religious zealot. He is so earnest about his beliefs and his desire for justice, though, so it's hard to dislike him since he actually believes in equality for the people of his city. It's a little hard to believe that The City of Brass was Chakraborty's first novel, since she developed these archetypal characters, and then walked the narrow line that makes them believable and likeable, instead of falling into the territory of sassy Mary Sues pitted against snarling alpha males competing for her favor. Plus, the dynamics of the city and its politics feel properly fleshed out and realistic. Add some excellent prose to the mix, and you have a great book to start a career with. I've already started book two, The Kingdom of Copper, though I'm not very far into it.
The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History is a short collection of essays Menocal wrote regarding the title's topic: the Arabic role in medieval literary history. Her overarching argument is that, thanks to the biases of historians in the 1700 and 1800s, we have entirely overlooked the role that the Arabic and Islamic worlds played in the cultural history of medieval Europe, which is ridiculous, really, and starting to be rectified. I mean, the Iberian peninsula was primarily Muslim for some seven hundred years, and intellectual circles sent their works and translations back and forth between Christian and Muslim areas for centuries. So it's hard for me to believe, as some scholars apparently did, that Arabic and Islamic cultures had no influence on Christendom. With that being said, I did find a couple of the essays difficult to get through, either because of their density or because I was not already familiar with the forms of Islamic or Arabic poetry Menocal was discussing. But overall, it was an informative book, and I learned quite a lot- especially from the first couple of entries.
Silver Nitrate is Silva Moreno-Garcia's latest novel. It's set in Mexico City in the 1990s. Montserrat is a sound editor who has been working in the high-stress, misogynistic Mexican movie industry, while her friend Tristán is a nearly-washed-up former movie star. When Tristán discovers that his new neighbor is the legendary cult horror film director Abel Urueta, Montserrat and Tristán find themselves delving deeper into the backgrounds of the horror films she's been obsessed with since childhood. Neither of them expected, though, to find sorcery, occultists, and Nazis lurking, but once they open that door, there is no going back. When Urueta convinces Montserrat and Tristán to help him finish his unfinished masterpiece, they find themselves under attack by dark forces they never could have imagined. While this wasn't quite as tense as Mexican Gothic, I was quickly drawn into Montserrat's story and the way all the book's threads were woven together. Far from showing a glamorous picture of movie magic, Montserrat and Tristán represent the more common workers in any film industry- those who love their craft but are barely hanging on in an industry that doesn't value their work. Their fears and anxieties are justified, and their responses to the bizarre circumstances they're plunged into are believable, which adds to the tension of the second half of the book. Of all the books of Moreno-Garcia's I've read, this is my second favorite- which is not bad praise at all, as Mexican Gothic was absolutely top-tier and will be very hard to beat.
The Weaver and the Witch Queen is about Gunnhild and Eirik Bloodaxe, two figures who feature in Norse history and in the Icelandic sagas, though they are generally seen as villainous figures- especially Gunnhild, who is one of those women who is reviled because of her ambitions. In this story, Gornichec uses the stories of Egil's Saga and Heimskringla as a jumping-off point, and delves into women's worlds and experiences. In The Weaver and the Witch Queen, we get the story of Gunnhild and her friends, sisters Oddny and Signy. As children, they swear an oath to always be together, but circumstances take Gunnhild far away from her friends so she can learn sorcery. Years later, when they are adults, Oddny and Signy's farm is attacked and they are separated. Oddny vows to find her sister, and embarks on a journey to do just that. Her travels bring her back into contact with Gunnhild, and they find that their bond is just as strong as ever. But their friendship is strained as they realize that their childhood promises conflict with their adult wishes. I found this story to be captivating from the first page thanks to the rich atmosphere and the excellent character development. It's getting harder for me to find historical novels that really feel like the characters belong to the time period, so it was a delight to see all the details Gornichec included and see how she wove the fantasy into the history. I enjoyed this book even more than I did Gornicheck's previous novel, The Witch's Heart, and I'm looking forward to see what she writes next.
What I'm Currently Reading:
Every Rising Sun by Jamila Ahmed (137/432)
The Kingdom of Copper (Daevabad trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraborty, audiobook narrated by Soneela Nankani
Every Rising Sun is a story of Shaharazade, set during the Second Crusade when Richard I of England engaged the armies of Saladin in 1189. Here, Shaharazade witnesses the Malik's wife being unfaithful to him. She leaves a note for the Malik, who responds by executing his wife-- and his next two wives. To stop the murders and bring the Malik she loves back from the edge of madness, Shaherazade decides to marry the Malik herself and try to save herself by spinning her tales by night and stopping at a critical point once the sun rises in order to keep the Malik's attention and save her own life. As if that weren't enough, Shaherazade and her father convince the Malik to join Saladin's fight against the Frankish invaders, even as plots against the Persian court swirl about them. So far, I am loving this story and the way that Ahmed is telling it. Not only do we get the court intrigues and all the historical detail I could ask for, but we also get the stories Shaharazade is telling. Though some of the individual sections could be a little longer, I'm thoroughly enjoying this retelling of Shaherazade's story, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this whole tale is resolved.
I'm a whole one or two percent of the way into The Kingdom of Copper, so I have no real opinion of it.
What I've Been Watching:
Endeavour starring Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser, Sean Rigby, Abigail Thaw, Dakota Blue Richards streaming on PBS
The British police drama Inspector Morse aired from 1987-2000, and featured the grouchy but brilliant DCI Endeavour Morse. It was a beloved show (I've never seen it myself), and in 2012 the show Endeavour premiered, featuring the adventures of a younger DC Morse and his senior partner DI Fred Thursday. After hearing the show's praises from someone I follow on Tumblr, I decided to give the show a shot, since I subscribe to PBS's streaming platform, where Endeavour is available. I was hooked right away, thanks to Evans' excellent performance as Morse and the expertly plotted, 90-minute episodes that caught my interest right away. I just started season four, and am looking forward to the rest of the show's 9-season run.
No comments:
Post a Comment