What Else Are You Reading in 2019? Showing 2,001-2,050 of 3,237

[Anthony]

Yup, seems so. 🕷

[Anthony]

“The Last Flight of Doctor Ain” is a short and (very) dark little tale that doesn’t have anything to do with feminine horror. Or spiders.

[Anna]

Yeah I wouldn't rec Love is the Plan for Allison! Honestly, Tiptree is the author I wish I'd just admired from afar, every single thing I've read by her still haunts me, and I get anxious when I see her mentioned. Except if it's in the context of the Tiptree Award!

[Jemppu]

(So far I'm not reading Tiptree as much as "feminine horror" as "feminist porn").

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Jemppu wrote: "(So far I'm not reading Tiptree as much as "feminine horror" as "feminist porn")."

What is feminist porn? Is it...not two or more people having sex? lol!

"Feminine horror" for me is when a story is about loss of agency or the systemic sense of going crazy, of not being able to trust your own voice or mind. Handmaid's Tale is classic feminine horror in both ways.

[Anthony]

Yeah, I have the same question, and am a little bothered by the implication of her work as pornography...

[Dawn F]

I’m so confused, this is a completely different Tiptree you’re all descriping from the very wonderful, uplifting experience it was to read her Up the Walls of the World XD Nothing horror to find there! (yes yes, Anthony, I’m getting to the short story collection, it just takes me longer to get through an ebook than an audiobook ;-))

[Anthony]

Dawn, don’t get me wrong, there are moments of beauty and wonder in these stories as well, and moments of humor, but yes, these stories are largely darker on the scale than primarily uplifting.

And no rush!

[Wen]

Anthony wrote: "Dawn, don’t get me wrong, there are moments of beauty and wonder in these stories as well, and moments of humor, but yes, these stories are largely darker on the scale than primarily uplifting.

An..."

Yes, I think it’s a special experience and I guess I am slow or something. I don’t think the horror part has too much sheen.

[Jemppu]

Allison wrote: "...What is feminist porn? Is it...not two or more people having sex? lol!

"Feminine horror for me is when a story is about loss of agency "

Hoo, boy... I'm starting to regret this book choice *hah*

Yes. It certainly has "feminine horror" in loads in it's imagery. But ultimately uses that to deliver it's message of female superiority over male. Which is what I meant by it being "porn" (not actual pornography, I'm afraid): a kind of stroking of ego - unapologetic self-indulgent in mocking the male collective and using their portrayed flaws to bump up female righteousness.

Revolutionary commentary and all welcome approach for it's time and purpose, but just as brazen with it's gender bias and stereotyping as is most common the other way around. The kind we these days rightfully question and call out openly.

If removed from all accumulated bias, accepting this approach as the ideal, or celebrating it for it's integrity in addressing others, it would be double standards to sneer at it the other way around.

I personally don't care for such treatment for any generalized group. Demeans both parties represented: one for the demeaning treatment, the other perhaps even more for the rather condescending implication that they'd need it to assert themselves or 'feel good' about themselves.

That said: it's her rightfully rage fueled manifesto for the wrongs felt and witnessed by female kind, and has validity as such. But visionary portrayal of optimal attitudes towards fellow beings it is not. Imho 🙏

And I agree with Anthony above: it definitely has it's moments of beauty, and the prose especially has such nuance to it's delivery: occasionally pleasing with teetering tantalizingly close to lyrical, yet keeping it's ground.

My absolute favorite one so far has been "The Man Who Walked Home" (one completely removed from the 'gender feuds'). Wholly captivating and evocative, and gorgeous with it's portrayal of scales from closely intimate to generations spanning epicness.

[Anthony]

I hear you, Jemppu. I don’t mean to imply that the particularly violent and intense expressions of feminist rage that infuse many of these stories should be held up as some sort of ideal — especially in the manner in which these stories characterize many of the men that are depicted. But there’s something cathartic and cleansing about how brutally and bracingly she calls out and interrogates toxic masculinity and damaging systems of patriarchy, that I will forever argue that her work is essential reading.

(I also appreciate your clarification about the use of the term “porn,” and I think I now know what you meant by it in this context.)

[Jemppu]

Anthony wrote: "...especially in the manner in which these stories characterize many of the men that are depicted. But there’s something cathartic and cleansing about how brutally and bracingly she calls out and interrogates toxic masculinity and damaging systems of patriarchy, that I will forever argue that her work is essential reading...."

I do get this as well, and can definitely feel her glee in the writing as she does this. But coming from a rather matriarchal household myself, from a background devout of any sort of male-dominance, it is hard for me to personally justify/condone, or get any relief or pleasure from witnessing the beating of the 'other side', whom ever they were.

And it's something which I keep thinking would be complicated to explain to younger siblings too, on it's own: as to why this sort of blatant demonizing of their sex would be considered 'comforting' by some, when their own experience could otherwise have all the tools needed for this divide to never factor in, wasn't it for introducing them to the 'standard' of damaging systems of patriarchy and toxic masculinity first.

For those who've experienced and witnessed it firsthand, it is no doubt straight out cathartic. But this work alone could be quite damaging / counterproductive for the message it seeks to convey: it's standards so firmly set to it's time / cultural situation, it would require a whole set of specific lessons in history to first lay foundation of where it's coming from, and why it's this hostile.

I'd rather establish standards set by Le Guin - or Chambers for that matter - before introducing this work to anyone's palate. Just to be sure.

[Anna]

(I'm sorry. I tried so hard, but I can't not!)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Let's Generalize About Men

[Anthony]

I agree that it would be helpful to brief anyone reading this on something of the context in which it was written: at a time when toxic masculinity and destructive patriarchy were being called out on a scale not really seen before.

[Jemppu]

Anna :D

[Dawn F]

Okay that made me laugh, Anna XDDD

[Kirsten]

Allison wrote: "Jemppu wrote: "(So far I'm not reading Tiptree as much as "feminine horror" as "feminist porn")."

What is feminist porn? Is it...not two or more people having sex? lol!

"Feminine horror" for me i..."

Vox would also count, I'd think.

[Pam]

Read Barbara Michael's The Dancing Floor and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2946774412.

[Pam]

Allison wrote: "Feminine horror" for me is when a story is about loss of agency, or the systemic sense of going crazy..."

The archetypal story of that is Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, first published 1892. Chilling.

[CBRetriever]

or this one: Blood Wedding. This book really put my head in a strange place. The author, Pierre Lemaitre is one of my favorite authors. He won the Prix Goncourt book award one year for the best French book of the year. His stories have so many layers to them and this one is no different. At first you even doubt if the narrator is not imagining things - it even made me paranoid to a certain degree.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Yes haha these are all great examples! I'm still trying to figure out if Tiptree is also in this category.

[Jacqueline]

I finished The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet late yesterday afternoon and I loved it.

[Trike]

Jacqueline wrote: "I finished The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet late yesterday afternoon and I loved it."

Good morning! How is tomorrow looking?

[Jacqueline]

Your tomorrow is looking wonderful. The sun does come up even with all the shit going down so no need to sacrifice anyone today.

Perfect day here with temperatures in the low 20s (Celsius of course). Which is pretty good considering it’s winter. Actually we would do anything for it to be pissing down raining.

Sitting in bed drinking a cuppa and looking at buying houses in Montour Falls. I said I wanted to go and see the falls when we were watching Aurora Teagarden. Even though the show is filmed in Canada (BC somewhere) the opening shot of the town is actually Montour Falls in the state of New York. Hubby of course takes it one step further and looks up houses and has found himself a lovely 7 bedroom house for $174K. He’s also looking up the best way to fly to London from there so we can tour around England at our leisure. He has this thing about wanting to have a white Christmas with the family. I reckon it definitely would be white up there. I think I need to remember to put my lottery ticket in tomorrow morning. I forgot yesterday.

Usually he’s looking for flats for me to buy in England. His latest obsession is Dover.

Might read Pan’s Labyrinth later today.

[CBRetriever]

gotta be something wrong with the house if it's that cheap

as far as reading goes, I'm getting bored with Oathbringer: too many characters, too many places and it's bogging me down..

[Jacqueline]

You’d think that. Needs some work. Mostly cosmetic from the looks of it. New bathrooms and kitchen. Lots and lots and lots of paint. Carpet. The floorboards look ok but it looks cold. Probably needs new heating too. Upstate New York gets a tad chilly. It was built in the 1850s and it looks like it hasn’t been renovated since the 60s/70s. Very tired and dated. Lots of wood on the walls.

I only need 5 bedrooms though so there’s a lot of room for a library. It’s the sort of house that really needs a library.

Most of the houses for sale aren’t that expensive there. Renovated 4-5 bedrooms are $200-225K.

Purely academic though. Unless I win lotto that is.

[CBRetriever]

ok, then it's like Butte, Montana where you could get a 10 room Victorian mansion for around 10,000 USD and then spend 10 times that renovating it

ETA: I see they're now running less that 200,000 USD. Must be a bit of a boom there now.

[Jacqueline]

Yeah something like that.

Looks like somewhere I’d like to be. As long as the house was warm even a long cold winter wouldn’t be too bad.

Anyhoo as I said it’s purely hypothetical. Unless I win lotto. A nice flat/apartment in England would probably be more practical though. Somewhere to base ourselves while touring around England and Europe when we retire in 2 years. And no yard to keep nice while we’re away.

Theoretically it’s all doable. If we sell the Farm and my Mountains house and keep our beach house I could afford one or the other. And if I sold the block of land beside my beach house I could afford both. Anything is possible. Not likely but possible. Houses in three countries. Yeah why not lol

[Trike]

Jacqueline wrote: "Sitting in bed drinking a cuppa and looking at buying houses in Montour Falls. I said I wanted to go and see the falls when we were watching Aurora Teagarden. Even though the show is filmed in Canada (BC somewhere) the opening shot of the town is actually Montour Falls in the state of New York."

I’m originally from a small town directly north of there. I wouldn’t live there on a bet. :p

[Trike]

CBRetriever wrote: "gotta be something wrong with the house if it's that cheap"

It’s upstate New York. Odds are even it’s on a Hellmouth.

[Jacqueline]

My son reckoned it looked haunted. And since it’s on the site of an old Indian village I’m thinking it’s more like Poltergeist (the original of course).

Hellmouth you say? I thought that was more California than New York.

I actually like it over your way more Trike even though living somewhere near the lakes and that seems nice.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I finished The Red Threads of Fortune and enjoyed it at least as much as the first book. Such a fun world to spend time in, and I think Yang is really finding their voice, and I am enjoying that immensely.

Joining in A Closed and Common Orbit for the buddy read (a wee bit late) and continuing reading through next months books for content warnings because I what?

<3 you all.

[Don]

Listening to "Leviathan" by Scott Westerfield. YA Steampunk circa WW1, alternate reality. The Reader Alan Cumming is as good as a narrator gets. Enjoying it so far.

[Mareike]

Allison wrote: "I finished The Red Threads of Fortune and enjoyed it at least as much as the first book. Such a fun world to spend time in, and I think Yang is really finding their voice, and I am ..."

Yaaay! Welcome, Allison!

[DivaDiane]

Still working my way through poetry collection after poetry collection. Luckily, if I don’t really like it I can feel free to DNF it. I’ll give it 5 poems at the beginning and then skip to the last 5 before setting it aside. With 56 collections to read before September 15th there’s really no other way! I’ve read a couple in their entirety though. If anyone is interested I’ll let you know what my picks are and which ones actually win (not usually the same).

[DivaDiane]

Jacqueline, Winter in Upstate New York sounds cold and snowy. It can’t be worse than Wisconsin (where I grew up) though! Would you move your library from Australia to NY, to fill those rooms, though?

Housing in the U.K. is really expensive, especially when you consider the size of what you get for the price. We of course, live in the most expensive area outside of London (Buckinghamshire), though, because of its accessibility to London, the quality of the schools and the beauty. If you don’t care about the first 2, then you can live just about anywhere else for cheaper.

[Jacqueline]

I reckon I’d have to fill it with some American classics. Even if I did buy somewhere overseas we’d still be keeping our beach house here so my books would stay here. I could start again. Could be fun.

Hubby has had the idea to buy a flat in England for years. Schools and access to stuff isn’t really important. England is very expensive and what makes it worse is that the exchange rate is pretty shit for us. £1 = $A2. Sucks.

We’ll probably just end up travelling lots.

[Jemppu]

Allison wrote: "...<3 you all."

<3

[Gabi]

I read The Red Lion: The Elixir of Eternal Life by Mária Szepes which ticked off three of my challenges:

- 1940ies to 50ies of the time travel challenge
- Hidden gem for the TBR cleanup
- Hungary for my non-US-non-UK authors challenge.

Readers who have a problem with general contemporary views on women should give it a wide berth. Readers who are interested in mysticism and the history of alchemy should give it a try. It describes the search of a reborn soul for the highest state over half a century of European history. I had to do a lot of side reading cause I wasn't familiar with all of the topics.

Edit: and I'm wondering ... I read the rather small printed German translation of it, which has 150 pages more than the English translation. This feels like a rather stark difference.

[Trike]

Diane wrote: "Jacqueline, Winter in Upstate New York sounds cold and snowy. It can’t be worse than Wisconsin (where I grew up) though! ."

Depends on how close you are to the Great Lakes. My cousins in Newark got 5 feet last winter, while my cousins a few miles north in Rochester got over 9. (By “a few miles” I mean exactly that. The drive between their houses is maybe 25 minutes.) We got about 5 feet here, too.

[Jemppu]

Gabi wrote: "...which ticked off three of my challenges..."

I was gonna ask, since you mentioned it on the reading updates on your feed, how many 'challenges' got added to the list <:D But if that side reading got covered in the process already...

This sounded like a truly fascinating read, and had me add it to my TBR list as well.

Curious about the pages. Page margins, line height and kerning can certainly affect the count as well, but I'd dare put it on account of language structures and differences/choices in expressions that can stretch a sentence (and certainly the average word length). Or were you thinking some things might've been described in closer detail in the translation, perhaps?

[DivaDiane]

Trike, I was thinking more of the cold than the snow. In Wisconsin some years, there’s not much snow before Christmas, others lots. If there’s not much snow before the frigid (minus 10-20*F) air arrives from Canada mid-January and February there won’t be much snow more till March! Too cold!

[Anna]

I've noticed that German editions tend to have a larger page count than English. I always assumed it's language structure.

[Gabi]

Anna wrote: "I've noticed that German editions tend to have a larger page count than English. I always assumed it's language structure."

We certainly have more wordy sentences. But an addition of a third of the pages felt like much, even for wordy German. ;)

[Rob]

I'm from Buffalo originally. Lake Effect snow is No Joke. I don't miss it here in Maryland.

[Trike]

Rob wrote: "I'm from Buffalo originally. Lake Effect snow is No Joke. I don't miss it here in Maryland."

Whenever I drive home (NH to OH) for Xmas, I always manage to end up in Buffalo at rush hour in the middle of a snowstorm. I swear it adds three hours to my trip and takes two years off my life.

R-rated tweet: https://twitter.com/Trike/status/1075...

[Trike]

Gabi wrote: "Anna wrote: "I've noticed that German editions tend to have a larger page count than English. I always assumed it's language structure."

We certainly have more wordy sentences. But an addition of ..."

Germans do love their compound words in order to be really, exactly, precisely specific. Why create a new word when stringing together seven existing ones works just as well? 😂 “Some German words are so long they have perspective.” — Mark Twain

[Jemppu]

Trike wrote: "...compound words..."

The lack of them in English is the bit that often makes one pause mid-sentence (like right here - correct form!?): no rules about whether or not words should go together, yet they are often to be regarded as one unit. With 'any sense' that too would be: compoundword. English does try with the occasional dash here and there, but there seem to be no set rules for using that either. So reckless ;)

[Don]

Lived in San Diego for years... San Diegans are so cute when they talk about bad weather. Katy bar the door, it going to drop down into to 40s tonight.

[Don]

Finished "Leviathan" and its not bad for VYA (very young adult). The Narrator was top notch. might read the author again but will not continue the series.